


Ocean's Bite

by NegativeCoconut



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Flora & Fauna, Angst, Awkward Flirting, Caves, Claiming Bites, Eventual Smut, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance would be thankful if he wasn't busy drowning, M/M, Mating Bites, Merpeople, Mutually Unrequited, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Not Beta Read, Ocean, Pining Keith (Voltron), Protective Keith (Voltron), Scent Kink (that was not initially on purpose lol), Sea Monsters, Sexual Tension, Trapped, Underwater, Underwater Kiss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2020-09-26 19:34:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20395015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NegativeCoconut/pseuds/NegativeCoconut
Summary: Keith and Lance find themselves in hot water when they are separated during a solo mission to an unmarked aquatic planet to find a shell that is rumored to emanate quintessence. They quickly discover that the wildlife isn't friendly. While the two argumentative teens navigate their way towards the surface (and each other,) Lance is bitten by one of the mer-creatures inhabiting the ocean.It's up to Keith to keep Lance alive long enough to get back to Team Voltron, and it's up to Lance to figure out his new alien body before it kills them both.





	1. The Cave

A soft metallic click close to his ear shifted Keith into consciousness. He twitched away from the sound as though he could escape to sleep again, pressing his cheek against the cool inside of the helmet's visor.

The click was followed by a dull crackle over the feed. It sounded small and far away. “Keith, come in. Can you hear us?” The voice was muted, but full of an emotion that had him straining to lean up on his elbows to better hear the message. Keith groaned and pried open his eyes. If possible, it was even darker than the dark behind his eyelids. A lovely shade of probable danger.

There was a relentless dripping not far from his head and he was heaped in a pile of limbs on wet, uneven ground. _Homey_, he thought with a disgruntled snort. Disoriented, but cautious, Keith mentally declared it best not to move much until he could see more of his surroundings. 

“Keith? Are you there? Come on, let us know you’re alright.” Shiro. Keith grimaced at the worry in his voice. With effort, he groggily raised his gloved fingers to his helmet to open communications and cleared his throat. His voice sounded about as great as he felt. 

“Sh-Shiro. I’m here,” he rasped. For a few ticks there was crisp static. Keith squinted into the darkness as though it could help him parse the nonverbal hissing. In an attempt to center himself, he gripped his helmet with both hands.

When the com burst to life the red paladin jumped, his helmet cracking against rock just beneath his head and hands clenching around nothing in the air. A cacophony of concerned voices sounded off, buzzing in his ears. Keith could make out the princess exclaiming her worry almost immediately, but Coran’s eccentric and friendly accent overpowered her, “Number 4! We’ve been trying to pick up your signal from here all the way to Vlexar!” 

“Thank god." Hunk exhaled loudly. “Keith, buddy. Thanks for the Weblum-sized heart attack.” Keith guiltily imagined Hunk wringing his hands, which was a very Hunk thing to do. Among the overlapping words of relief, Pidge chimed in with a zesty, pointed tone, “Way to keep us guessing. What a fucking edgelord.” Her voice sounded tinny and accusatory, but Keith could hear the relief there. 

“Language, Pidge-” Shiro noted, basically on reflex at this point. A staticky pause. Keith rolled his eyes. He could practically feel Pidge doing the same. “Keith. What’s your status - are you hurt?”

Keith took a deep breath in the silence, steadying himself. He shuffled into a sitting position and began to systematically feel for injuries, starting with his legs. By the time he reached his head, he was surprised to have found only minor bruising and a few cuts that had already stopped bleeding. Honestly, he was just really sore. And wet. 

“I’m alright.”

Pidge scoffed over the coms. “You’re reallying overwhelming us with the details here, Keith.” Keith’s mouth crooked into a smirk.

Hunk joined in, “Yeah, not the time to be cool and mysterious, man. You sure you’re ok? You were offline for close to three hours.” Keith felt his brow furrow at that. That accounted for the stiffness and newly formed bruises he could feel against the flight suit. But it also brought up a load of new questions. 

The red paladin leaned forward into a squat, slowly swiveling his head in the darkness. He interrupted what was probably about to be another quotable insult from Pidge, “I’m sorry I worried you guys. I must have passed out from a hit during our...experience with the locals, but I don’t feel bad considering.” He paused before adding, “feeling cool and mysterious, actually.” He was certain the staticky blips that followed were Hunk and Pidge cackling. He smirked.

"And would you care to further explain this 'experience'?" Allura's initial concern sounded more like disapproval now.

Keith wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, thanks for the warning by the way. Lance and I ran into some local wildlife."

'Go look for the magical quintessence shell, they said, it'll be _easy_, they said,' Keith thought dryly. He hadn't seen anything besides rocks and monsters, let alone magical glowing _shells_. 

"I hope you did not do anything to dishonor Voltron or the Altean royal family." 

Coran piped in and Keith could imagine his pointer finger waggling as he explained in his 'educator voice,' "Yes, Altea has quite the history of excellent diplomatic realtions and political affiliations. There is not much recorded data on Asqua-varium III, my boy! It is excellent that you were able to make contact - I hope your meeting was not too violent for us to endorse-" 

"I'm going to stop you right there." Keith gave one sardonic huff of a laugh before continuing tiredly, "Did I say experience? Let me rephrase. They tried to MAUL us!" Keith whisper-yelled, waving his arms exageratedly at no one. 

"Yikes," Hunk whimpered. 

Keith sighed, subconciously rubbing at his aching shoulder through the paladin armor. "We're basically dealing with the The Little Mermaid: Jaws Edition down here." 

There was about 3 ticks of silence, not even any static interference through the feed, before Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk barked in laughter all at once. "I told you guys Galra-Keith was funny!" Hunk wheezed. 

Shiro snorted and Keith couldn't help but release a tiny chirp of a laugh, content to hear some of the initial tension leave his usually-serious leader. "So glad you're still around to be our good chum, Keith!" Exagerated groans filtered through the coms in unison, including Keith's.

"Oh my god, Shiro" Hunk drawled.

"I'm so glad us almost getting eaten by vampire mer-freaks is comedic gold for you all," he growled, but he couldn't keep the smile out of his voice. 

Pidge sounded like she was still holding in a chortle or two when she spoke up again, "You're not in danger now, right? Did you get me any samples? Vampire mermaids sound kind of cool." 

"We'll see how cool you think they are when they try to eat you." Keith paused, spinning slowly in a circle. "Don't think I'm in danger here. Well not in immediate danger anyway." He knocked his knuckles against his visor, the grin slowly edging off his face. “My helmet might be the real danger. Coms aren’t running clear and visuals are affected. I think it’s cracked somewhere.” He could see atmospheric scans processing at an irregular tempo in the upper left of his screen. The last few numbers were blurred and flickering. 

Pidge’s tone turned serious. “Well that’s not great. I can’t pinpoint your location, but you are definitely underwater – what do you see?” Keith blinked quickly, feeling newly claustrophic. The dripping suddenly sounded more ominous.

“Not much. It’s dark. Give me a few more seconds and I can give you more details.” The atmosphere scan, flickering and unsteady it may be, looked good enough for him. The boy shrugged. He had an impulsive reputation to uphold. He thought he heard a tiny "Keith, wait!" but it was too late before the curt hiss of oxygen releasing resounded in the small space. He twisted and popped off his helmet off in one fluid motion.

Hunk tittered, obviously trying to break the tension a little, “Oh snap, he’s gonna use his Galra vision!” Keith felt a laugh climbing in his chest, but this time it was more of a gurgled, apprehensive grunt. Hunk and Pidge were always the first to ‘get hype’ (as Lance would say) about his Galra abilities. At first he had hated it. After a few phoebs, and he would never admit this, he was proud of the way his teammates referred to his Galra attributes as superpowers, even now. It definitely came in handy in cases like this. And speaking of Lance..._let's think about one problem at a time._

While not fully adjusted, Keith’s vision was already sharp enough to make out objects around him and his pupil-less yellow eyes darted around the room with practiced precision. He was in a cave of sorts, surrounded by stalactites and dark nooks. The walls were rock-like and moist, more of a deep purple than black. 

A dark pool rose to meet the jagged shoreline a few feet from where he stood, back cautiously to the wall. He didn't see any puddles or misplaced rocks that would hint at Lance also having shuffled out of the underwater lake and around the cavern as well. With any luck he was around here too, though. If Keith hadn’t known any better he would have thought he was surrounded by immaculately smooth stone rather than water. The illusion made him shiver. 

He paused to take a deep breath. The air didn't taste stale, but there was the distinct scent of salt and musk. "I see rocks mostly, Pidge. Looks like I'm in some sort of underwater cave. I think I am safe here for a little while."

Shiro’s voice cut firmly over the feed. He didn't often comment on anything Galra in front of the red paladin, nor did he right now. It always made Keith feel a little empty, but he understood why. “Do you feel ok? If anything feels off, put your gear back on immediately.":

"Relax, Shiro."

He heard Shiro huff, but he didn't push it. "Alright, don’t log off though. If we get disconnected we might not be able to talk again for a bit.”

Keith nodded, forgetting the team couldn't see his affirmation, but he was already focused on a new thought. 

Lance. His idiotic, whirlwind of a comrade. Where in the _quiznack_ was he? If he hadn't come through this cavern was he still out in the open water? Were there other caverns like this one spread out along the ocean floor? Could they be connected? _Shit,_ could those mer-monsters _crawl? _

Now he was getting ahead of himself. More importantly, Lance had definitely taken damage during the fight. That would have been more than three hours ago now. Keith’s memory unhelpfully supplied him with the last moment he could remember seeing his fellow paladin, through a haze of dark red blood sifting through the water, supporting his injured arm while lining up a shot for an incoming merbeast (Lance had dubbed them to be so when he realized the mermaids were the opposite of alluring on this planet.) His bayard had been working magnificantly underwater, shocking them both. The lasers had morphed into icy blasts that barely slowed even with the water's resistance. Lance had given Keith a confident, overzealous thumbs up before firing off at a lingering merbeast, its spindly tail twitching and baring yellow fangs. They had showed up in a pack but the rest had fled when Lance's meticulous shots made impact. 

The mer-creature contorted obscenely to escape Lance's well aimed attack, its gaze shifting wickedly to Keith. The red paladin grimaced at the memory - it had gotten tricky from there. Lance was reaching nimbly to wrap his hand around Keith’s wrist and pull him into his side before those nasty claws got there first. His blue eyes were deadly focused as he threw up his shield to protect Keith's flank, a bold move considering it left his opposite side completely unprotected. But Keith and Lance were doing this kind of shit for each other now and Keith honestly wasn't sure whether it was just a competition anymore. He kind of hoped it wasn't. 

Keith felt the impact in watery vibrations as the creature scrabbled against the opaque shield. The blue paladin shoved the creature off with one great heave and angled his head to smirk confidently down at his companion. 

"Scared yet, Mullet? We all know the water is my domain!" 

Keith made a show of scoffing before he responded. "Am I scared of the oh-so-beautiful mermaids you just _had_ to meet? No." Keith was still leaning into Lance, palm laid flat on his partner's chestpiece. He tipped his helmet to flick his bangs out of his eyes in order to glare up at Lance.

"Of your inability to scare off a single fish?" Keith's bayard sparkled to life at his own waist and he watched as Lance's gaze snapped away to stare at where the tip of the red bayard had materialized a bare centimeter from the mer-creature's scaley throat beyond Keith, where it had launched an immediate counter attack, it's impressive fangs not far from Lance's forearm. Keith hadn't even turned around. He could not stop himself from grinning if he'd tried when he responded, "Very scared." 

Lance tipped his head forward in surprised laughter. Keith could still see him brandishing a full toothy smile out of the corner of his eye as he laid down cover fire to finally get rid of the last monster. 

Keith's eyes were then drawn to the craigy outcrop of stones not thirty paces from their skirmish. 

Two slitty orbs gleamed in the light of a distant icy blue energy blast and Keith was frozen for a just a tick, cocking his head to keep his gaze focused over Lance's shoulder. A new merbeast emerged like a scaley, coiled spring from among the rocks, claws first. Keith shuddered as he remembered the way the webbing between its claws stretched like a grotesque, slippery spiderweb. 

Then Keith was lunging to block Lance’s vulnerable back, gripping the blue paladin's bicep to nimbly propel himself into a twisting kick that would have had more power _not_ underwater. He felt his heel connect with it's torso, and there was a crunch. Lance was yelling his name. 

And then he woke up in a dark ass hole.

Not his best day in space. Dread compacted in Keith’s chest like sticky cotton balls. The boy clenched his fists, uncomfortably aware of his claws extending within the fabric, which they recently began to do when his emotions got the better of him. Goddamn Galra puberty coming in hot. 

Lance had to be nearby. And he might need medical attention. Focus. Keith gave himself one last moment to re-live how Lance's electric gaze met his before everything went dark, a heavy blue that stood out so starkly against the strong cerulean current. 

The crackling of the com was too overpowering to hear anything beyond water dripping or squelching beneath his boots as he shifted his weight. That was not helping his nerves. He was sorely tempted to turn it off. Shiro’s lecture be damned.

Keith raised the helmet to speak into the com before he could do anything stupid. Well, anything stupider. He was already potentially without backup in a drippy cave underneath an alien ocean surrounded by territorial mermonsters with nasty attitudes. Awesome. 

“Have you guys heard from Lance?”

“He’s not with you?” Hunk exclaimed with renewed alarm. Keith’s stomach fell to his feet. Shit.

“No. He’s not here. We were together earlier and I think he was wounded. Pidge, can you see where he is?” His tone must have revealed something because Shiro’s answering ping interrupted him with an authoritative, but calming tone that Keith recognized from a long, long time ago from his time at the Garrison.

“Try to stay put. We’re coming to you. Pidge has almost configured your location.” A staticky crackle that sounded particularly like dial up internet, most likely Shiro pausing to reassure Hunk as well. “A few hours at most. And then we’ll find Lance and get you guys out of there. Sound good?”

Keith sucked in a forced breath, feeling very similar to a clown-like puffer fish he’d floated past while exploring this planet’s ocean with Lance only hours before.

"Sure. Yeah. Sounds good." Keith mumbled. 

As far as Keith was concerned this was a shitty plan. But it was a plan. He knew it was smarter to maintain his location than to get himself more entangled and lost in the bowels of a sea cave, but all this revolved strongly around waiting. And he was so famously known for his patience.

He was on his fourteenth repetition of _patience yields focus_ when a low, unsettling sound raised the hair along his neck. Keith whipped his head to identify the source, fingers curled in a tight, expert grip around his bayard (that he was suddenly thankful he hadn't lost during his apparent nap.) He felt exposed after removing his helmet, but he dared not move a muscle right now in order to put it back on. His skin was tingling with unease, but he held his breath to wait for the sound again. He would transform his bayard as soon as he knew where the sound originated from or risk giving away his location in a flash of light. He was tense. But he was ready.

He was _not_ ready for the peeling moan that ascended into a high, raw shriek. It was so obviously laced with agony.

And it was so obviously _Lance_.

Keith felt like his lungs weren't getting any air and his stomach seemed to have turned heavy, pulling him down towards the slick, indigo floor. Another scream echoed around the cave, seeming to hit the walls and bleed down into the inky lagoon. 

_Fuck._

Keith pushed off the wall and sprinted to follow the blue paladin's voice.


	2. Just Keep Breathing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The red paladin becomes acquainted with cave architecture, the blue paladin can't breathe, and I'm terrible at chapter summaries. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith's probably like a hot second from strangling Lance lol

Keith almost impaled himself on at least five suspiciously egregious rocks that seemed to be grabbing for him in the darkness. His armor squealed in protest as he collided with solid jumbles and jagged corners. He’d been sprinting hard for a few minutes now, hanging on to the sound of a long-faded echo of pain. A particularly low hanging spike of stone snagged his cheek and then his hair as he took a corner too fast. He hissed.

A small, faraway exclamation of_ Keith?_ from the helmet tucked into his arm. _What’s happening?_

The red paladin skidded to a pause panting hard, locking his arm to lean against a coarse, unyielding wall. He took a tick to edge a tiny, well-worn band from underneath his glove and tie his hair back. It was cold, but he was sweating hard. The blood trickling down his cheek cooled quickly.

He whispered, “Lance is in trouble - I can hear him, but I can’t see him yet.”

But it was eerily quiet. In fact, it was quiet for a long time. Grateful to not be subjected to tortured screams, but at the same time at a loss for direction, Keith licked his lips nervously.

Teeth clenched, he stared hard at a passage that branched in two directions, honestly unsure if he was getting any closer. “Anything new on his location?”

The feed sounded grumpier and more disjointed than before and he could barely piece together Pidge’s crackling voice - something that might have included _losing you-deeper-southeast_. In conclusion, this was turning out to be a shitty mission. But there was no way he was going to simply sit and listen to Lance’s pained screaming. The red paladin couldn’t afford the time it would take to backtrack and puzzle Pidge's words together. Lance needed help _now_. Fuck it (the phrase that was quickly becoming the motto of his day.) “I’ll report back in a few.” He muted his mic with a frown and a silent apology.

It took every ounce of training in him not to shout for Lance, to let him know he was coming for him. Who knew what could be waiting down any one of these tunnels. Shiro could be proud of him for that at least. He was going to kill him for everything else.

Neither path looked to be more well-worn than the other. Unwilling to waste more time, Keith chose the right. Senses heightened, he edged into the pitch dark tunnel with an ease that would accompany a normal human in the daylight. Keith jogged lithely and soundlessly in the dark for what felt like ten vargas, praying to any gods he could think of that he’d chosen the correct route. The cool air tickled the small hairs that escaped his impromptu ponytail and he released a full body shiver.

He was rewarded with a wide, low crevice around a wicked bend in the path. He peered through. When nothing tried to mangle him (Keith appreciated the little things) he ducked through. The crevice opened into a much larger cave than the one he’d woken up in. The ceiling rose high into the chilling darkness. Even with his ability to see clearly, he wasn’t sure if he was looking at the peak or plain old darkness.

The rest of this cavern was that same flat, spectral water that simply melded into its gravelly surroundings. Keith was considering how to edge around the vast pool when his eyes latently retraced their path, his body trained to pinpoint danger before he even truly recognized it. His gaze lingered on a specific rock that sat on the bank opposite the internal lake. He squinted - there was something familiar about the shape. The red paladin’s fingers twitched, grip tensing on his helmet. That’s it. Perfectly round and metallic, lacking the pointed edges of everything else in these catacombs. Not a rock, but a helmet. It was blue. Keith began scanning the area with purpose until he found what he was looking for. He wished he hadn’t.

Lance was face down in the dark pool.

Keith honed in on the way brown tufts of hair floated peacefully around his head. And the way his limbs hovered at the surface at uneven distances all around him...it looked so fucking wrong. Nothing like the confident angles that Keith associated with the blue paladin in the water. “You’ve got to be kidding.” His body reacted before he even considered the dangers of throwing himself into the water.

He couldn’t feel the bottom and he wasn’t the best swimmer, so he had no idea how he’d gotten to Lance so quickly, but the other still hadn’t shown any sign of movement. All he knew was his heart was beating wildly, ticking right against his jaw at the same spot where the freezing water lapped, and there was the distant sound of his own pleading, “_ No, no, no- _ ” as he pulled Lance’s chin over his shoulder to drag him toward the lip of the pool. _ “Lance, hang on!” _He garbled a mouthful of salty, dark water. 

The water shallowed and Keith hadn’t bothered to get Lance more than halfway onto the rocks before he pressed his fingers to his teammate’s pulsepoint hard, in direct contrast with the way he tilted his ear gingerly over blue tinted lips to listen. He let out a growl of frustration when he felt and heard nothing. 

“Lance, how in the actual fuck!” Keith shouted. But the blue paladin’s eyelids were a delicate pale purple and he was a gross kind of still. “Why is it never easy with you,” but it was less of a scolding and more of a whine. 

Keith slapped Lance’s cheeks, mushing his mouth into a fishy-kiss face that would have been silly in any other circumstance. “You are _ not _ doing this right now, you-” he floundered “dammit,” unable to find the inspiration to finish his insult as his hands fluttered over his teammate’s torso. Keith jerked Lance’s chin upward in an attempt to clear his air passage. 

Biting down his rapidly rising panic, Keith turned his face down to pause for a vulnerable second, hovering just a breadth away from the face of his friend (were they even friends? Ok, his rival...er, his teammate? Fuck it, whatever.) His _ something _. He pressed his lips to Lance’s and closed his eyes.

He pushed his oxygen into Lance’s lungs, pausing to take another choked breath, and returning to seal his mouth again. Lance’s lips were slippery and Keith was abnormally aware of his own incisors sharpening into tiny points, as typical of him when he lost his cool. He was careful not to slice the fragile skin.

With labored breaths but calm hands, he pushed into the center of Lance’s chest with rhythmic compressions. 

“Your stupid brain,”_ (compression _ ) “can’t afford,” _ (compression _ ) _ , _ “to lose any oxygen” _ (compression _) “dumbass!” 

Keith grimaced at the way Lance’s head lilts to the side with every push. He gave a final compression with extra umph, feeling the boy’s entire body quake with the effort. A trickle of water dribbled out of the blue paladin’s mouth and over his bottom lip, arcing down his jaw. 

Hopeful, Keith froze. He stared with rapt attention, eyes wide. The droplet made a path along the tanned skin of his throat, and silently met the floor. But Lance’s features didn’t twitch otherwise. 

Keith felt the resurgence of panicked alarm rise in his throat, ever tightening. He _ better _wake up. Or Keith was going to kill him. 

He started another round of compressions. The next time their mouths connected it wasn’t gentle - Keith was less worried about tearing Lance’s lips now, and more concerned at how chilled they felt. Lance would probably bitch at Keith to buy him space-chapstick later. 

Keith’s own mouth was filled with the taste of salt and blood. His fangs had definitely elongated to pierce his lower lip. He’d been chewing on his cheek ever since he first heard Lance scream. Still, Keith hadn’t expected to find him like this. He didn’t know what he expected. Maybe for Lance to not be literally dying right now? What if he was already dead?

Keith’s stomach wrenched sourly and he blinked away a sudden burning behind his eyes. How long had he been giving Lance CPR? How long had he been submerged in the water before he’d gotten there? Fuck, why didn’t he run _ faster. _ The red paladin’s cheek stung sharply as a sliver of moisture glided over his freshly open cut. 

No. _No._ Focus. He’d do this until the team got here if he had to. He’d sooner eject himself into space than let Lance die in an abysmal ocean alone, far from everyone he cared about. 

With renewed drive he unlatched Lance’s chestplate. He placed his hands on top of one another directly above his breastbone. His skin was soft even there. He’s maybe, kind of always wanted to touch it? He let _that_ thought dissipate into the enroaching darkness.

He’s completed one precise compression, brow furrowed and gaze hard, when something shifts beneath him. Keith is so focused he decides he can deal with whatever peril comes next after he’s done beating the life back into the boy below him. He is not to blame for the shocked shriek he makes when a hand grips his forearm with surprising force. 

He pitched himself forward over Lance, protectively caging him in. Keith’s hand skittered to his waist where his damp bayard was still locked into place and he glared over his shoulder, preparing himself for what would have to be the quickest fight of his life.

But there were no mercreatures or scaley claws looming over them. Keith squinted and turned over his other shoulder. There was no one. A low, confused sound grumbled in his throat. 

“...Keith?” The red paladin couldn’t find words for the prickle that coursed up his spine like liquid lightning. In fact, he couldn’t make words at all when he finally peered down to the hand still clasping his arm. Following the length of it with wide eyes, Keith found it attached to Lance. He stared, mouth open. 

“Hey Mullet,” Lance’s voice was disjointed and scratchy. “Please tell me that’s you and I didn’t just make out with an evil mermaid shark.” 

Keith swallowed, blinking rapidly. Two things happened very quickly. He realized he was practically sitting on Lance’s lap, thighs bracketing his hips. His cheeks heated (part in thanks to Lance's oh-so-delicate phrasing) and he scrambled haphazardly away onto the rocks. He grunted as he readjusted himself to kneel on the rough floor. It didn’t escape his notice that Lance didn’t release his arm, either.

Keith let out a breath that felt heavy, palms flat on his knees. He was still instructing himself to breathe calmly when the silence was broken. 

“So...Voltron: Legendary Lifeguard. It’s a good look on you.” Lance chuckled, though it came out as more of a wheeze. He smiled like he'd forgotten he’d almost died less than a minute ago cradled in Keith’s arms. Wouldn’t be the first time. 

Keith turned to the blue paladin, eyeing him warily like he might pass out again at any second, promptly decided he didn’t care, and proceeded to punch him in the shoulder. Hard. 

“OW!” Lance winced, his head whipped in Keith’s direction, pouting. “What the hell, man? You coulda just said it wasn’t funny!” 

The red paladin glared unapologetically. “It’s. _ not. _ funny.” He punctuated each word with a jab to Lance’s chest, “What the _quiznack _was that? Aren’t you supposed to be the guardian of water?!” 

“Dude, still hurts - I get it, already, _geesh_!” Lance whined, alternating between dramatically massaging his arm and chest with one shaky hand (due to his ostensible refusal to let go of the red paladin with his other hand.) Lance's head was inclined in his direction, but he was not making eye contact. He was hunched over, foot bouncing. A few moments passed that felt very long. 

“Tsk, it's _so_ dark. Freaky dark. This is so not cool,” Lance mumbled under his breath, sounding a little choked.

Keith watched Lance’s jaw shiver at random intervals for a moment, then cocked a brow, incredulous. “You know what’s not cool?” 

He leaned in close to Lance’s face. He could see tiny brown freckles looking too dark on his unusually pale skin. In the back of his mind, Keith was vaguely surprised that Lance didn’t veer away from the sudden close contact. But when he growled out his response, dangerously low, Lance did flinch. His neck swiveled joltingly as though following Keith’s intense tone, facing him dead on. Their noses bumped. 

“Ditching your partner _ and _ your helmet in an alien ocean and trying to _ drown _ yourself is what’s _ not cool _,” he finished with aggressive finger quotes. Lance’s mouth was a pale, thin line. He looked younger when he swept his hair up into a messy, dripping cowlick and exposing a smear of blood along his temple. The movement itself looked like an effort. Keith almost felt bad. Almost.

“Ayy _ dios, _ buddy. Calm down, ok?” Lance raised his palm placatingly. “Lance McClain and drown do not go in the same sentence. The beach was my backyard for like 15 years.”

"Yeah, because you were so uniquely prepared for this situation," Keith spat. Lance was too calm about this.

His gaze was darting around Keith’s face, sometimes just off beyond his shoulder.

"But I can explain!" The boy pouted. Keith squinted back at him, unsettled. Lance seemed off. Maybe there was still water sloshing around what was left of his brain. 

“You were dying. I’m allowed to freak out a little here. Why aren’t you freaking out?” The hand gripping Keith’s gave a little spasm in response. Lance was doing that thing still, looking at Keith but not actually looking at him. “Lance. I’m serious here. You’re freaking me out so just look at me, will you?”

“Gee yeah, let me whip out my ghostbuster nightvision goggles.” A pause. “Wait, can you see _ me _? It’s pitch black in here.” 

A beat. “Wait, you _can_, can’t you? Galra-vision!”

“Yes, I can _see_ you. Now shut up and focus your water-logged brain for one second. I heard you-uh... before. You sounded-" Keith shifted, uncomfortable, "are you actually okay-”

He was interrupted, “Great, _ that’s _ not seriously creepy or anything,” Lance snorted, but his expression flickered. His hand had jumped to his neck, clenching the skin there. He looked suddenly more vulnerable. 

Exasperated, Keith was about to reach out and check Lance for injuries himself. He was pretty sure Lance was hiding something. One crisis had been averted, but he hadn't forgotten the cries that had guided him here. 

He jumped when Lance spoke again, a little too loud. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” 

Keith blinked, "Mm?"

It was a full moment before he realized Lance must have taken his silence for offense. It had been months since he had shared his recently-discovered Galra heritage with the team, but he was sure he wasn't completely fabricating the slight tension that had surfaced among the group since then. He didn't want to be the cause of unease for them. Secretly, Keith was beginning to consider their rag-tag crew as _family_, which was disconcerting enough without the added worry of being considered as an enemy spy in their ranks. And so, even in a situation as ludicrous as this, Keith found himself intently eating up the blue paladin's next words. So sue him. 

“You’re not creepy! Well you are - in the broody, emo kind of way, but not like _that_, you know? It’s just you can see me but I can’t see you-which maybe sounds kinda creepy when you put it that way.” Keith snorted, but Lance prattled on in his classic brand of Lance-babble that Keith secretly appreciated after the gloomy silence of his trek in the underwater caves. 

“Well I mean I think I can actually see your eyes a little right now. They’re doing the yellowy thing, yeah?” Keith nodded, forgetting Lance couldn’t see the gesture. 

He’d overlooked the likelihood that Lance would be unable to see anything in this dense darkness. He reflected on how intense the darkness had looked to his normal, human eyes earlier in the smaller cave. He sent a silent thank you to no one in particular for letting him find Lance before something else did. Keith grimaced at the thought of him trying to defend himself in the dark, unable to see in order to aim his weapon. 

“They’re not scary. Actually they’re the only thing I can see right now. So don’t close your eyes. And,” Lance faltered and coughed, “don’t let go, either. Please.” Well, shit. Keith was glad it was dark because he could not will the warmth off of his face. Now he had an idea of why Lance was clingy all of a sudden. 

His comrade's mouth was already turning up into a lopsided smirk, “And real talk, Keith: your mullet is easily the scariest thing about you.” He chortled at his own joke (how did that never get old for him?) and pawed at Keith's shoulder with a grabby hand. 

Keith raised his eyebrows when Lance hesitated, fingers flailing blindly in open air for a tick until they finally caught strands at the back of his messy, damp ponytail. 

“Sorry to disappoint,” Keith swatted Lance’s hand playfully. “My hair was in the way when I was running over here to save your needy ass.” 

“You-” Lance cleared his throat and started again. “You put it up.” Keith watched Lance’s expression shift rapidly, lips forming a small ‘o.’ Lance's cheeks were stained a red that somehow managed to stand out in the dark. 

Lance recovered from whatever that was a moment later, voice higher in pitch. “So you admit your mullet is unfunctional.” 

Keith threw his arms up, “Oh my god! A thank you would be nice!" 

Lance couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up at the classic reaction. Shooting wobbly finger guns at Keith, he replied, “You walked into that one, Keithy buddy.”

Keith rolled his eyes so hard it hurt. “You’re going to walk into my fist if you do something like this again.” 

Lance cleared his throat a little too pointedly. “Uh, about that. Don’t freak out but...”

Immediately not liking the change in tone, Keith watched Lance lick his already-moist lips. Keith wasn't sure if he was imagining the miniscule beads of sweat along the brow of Lance's lip or at his hairline. His fingers were clenching on his neck again. Keith had a weird urge to peel his hand away to see whatever it was he was hiding.

“But I need you to bring me back to the water.” 

Keith cocked his head. What. 

"What." 

"Keith-"

"You want to go for a dip in the lake where you almost drowned."

"I'll explain, I swear! Just-come on, man." 

"No. I'm calling the castle. And then we're getting out of here. You'll be lucky if ice cubes are the most water you get after Shiro hears about this."

Lance made a sound high in his throat that might have been a laugh, but Keith's eyes widened when he squirmed, fingers curling.

"Keith, please, I don't think I can walk on my own-I wouldn't ask if-" Lance paused to swallow down air, but it looked like he couldn't physically get it down his throat. The red paladin did not like the way Lance's breathing was speeding up, taking in panicky puffs. Obviously embarrassed, the blue paladin finally let go of his hold on Keith's wrist to cross his arms poutily over his chest and look pointedly away from him. Keith's wrist felt suddently cold. 

"Hey-" Keith scooted closer, laid a hand on Lance's shoulder in a way he hoped was soothing. Lance was warm. Like, he could legitimately feel the damp warmth radiating inches away from his armored skin. "Hey." he repeated, "Tell me what's going on. You don't look so hot." 

"_Excuse_ me I always look hot." The words were formed slowly with no strength behind them. "It's-_ah_. It's happening again." 

"What is? Talk to me." Keith watched Lance's lips move soundlessly and he slumped to lean his forehead on the arm that connected them. Keith stiffened with the realization that this was by far the most he had ever touched the blue paladin (you know, while he was not dying.) Or, more accurately, the most the blue paladin had ever touched _him_. 

"Shit, is it like earlier? Lance, I heard you screaming." Lance's eyes flickered up to him. "It sounded bad. I'm going to call the team. We've got to get you out of here." Keith shifted, swiveling to find his helmet. He'd left it on the other side of the pool earlier in his haste. "Ok, I'll be right back-"

"NO!" Lance's eyes were wider than he'd ever seen them. His pupils were huge, almost completely overcoming the stormy blue Keith had become accustomed to. He was so much more animated than he was barely ten dobashes ago that Keith just opened his mouth wordlessly, stupefied. 

"Don't leave!" _Quiznack. _He sounded scared. 

His hands reached out to Keith blindly again, fumbling beside his knee in the dark. Lance was a hugger. You would think after a year with his new space-family Keith would've learned how to give somebody a damn hug, but the blue paladin in particular remained an enigma. And Keith remained socially inept. Keith's arms twitched, unsure if he was supposed to initiate a hug in this situation. Or how to. 

Lance seemed to have thought better of his actions during Keith's internal conflict, face shadowing and pulling back his hands. He always shut up at the most inconvenient times. Keith bit his lip. There was a silence while Keith tried to actively overcome his emotional constipation with consideration to the urgent need to keep Lance calm. _Well, _Keith reasoned interally with a blasé shrug, _every day is another new opportunity to fuck it all up again, right? _He was choosing his next (calming) words carefully when-

Lance's body arched suddenly and Keith stared as the boy's lips parted in a surprised gasp. His fingers were pressing into his chest like he was trying to dig something out. "_Ngh, no not again," _he moaned as if he could argue away the pain. Keith flinched, unsure and confused. When Lance's spine curved inward violently for the second time, he mewled out a staggered whimper that Keith knew he would never tease him for. It was heartbreaking.

Keith ran a hand through his hair nervously and quickly. Then in a moment of inspiration he crawled carefully into Lance's space, folding his arms around him delicately, palms flush against the armor still applied to his back. Lance was rigid, but Keith had a jittery, unnamed emotion for the way the boy turned to allow himself to be completely enveloped in his arms. There was definitely some kind of science to hugs. Lance was good at it. Keith would work on it. 

"The water, Mullet-I _need_ it." Lance nuzzled into his shoulder, his breath hot on his neck. When the other paladin didn't respond, mostly shocked by the escalation of events, Lance spoke again. "Hurts_-" _He hissed quietly. "_Hurts, _Keith." Keith gripped tighter, not consciously choosing to allow his thumb to trace a slow circle against the the blue paladin's spine. Lance's breath hitched. 

Keith eyed the water over his shoulder. It was menacingly still and black, shielding anything potentially lurking below the surface. Keith attempted to consider the situation with a level head for a moment, while Lance shuddered in his arms. The first thing he needed was for Lance to calm down. No matter what, they still had to wait for rescue and it would take hours yet. Keith wasn't sure he could get through hours of waiting with Lance crying for the water, let alone minutes. 

One deep breath through his nose and out his mouth before Keith braced himself, snaking his arm down to Lance's waist. He shifted the other to curl into the bend behind his knees. He lifted the boy into his arms. Lance said something hurriedly in Spanish and fumbled for purchase. He resolutely stared anywhere but Keith. He was shivering in waves of tiny aftershocks, hands curled limply in his lap. But it looked to Keith like the unexpected burst of pain was ebbing. For the moment.

"Dude, eat a sandwich." 

Lance barked a startled laugh, somehow managing to look both amused and offended. He shoved at Keith willfully. After a tick or two he rested his cheek on his shoulder, brown skin to red armor. Keith had the weirdest fleeting thought that the color complimented Lance. It had nothing to do with the fact that the boy was curled trustingly in his arms, legs swinging wearily. Nothing at all. 

There were traces of a grin on the blue paladin's face as they traveled the short distance to the pool's edge, Keith barely even straining under the thin paladin's weight. He kneeled on one knee, considering. 

Lance gasped when Keith inserted his own leg directly into the pool, the water giving a splash that sounded too loud in the emptiness of the cavern. His fingers dug into Keith's shoulders, a pressure even through the armor. 

"Woa, wait-you don't have to," Lance started. 

He grinned impishly. "What happened to 'don't let go?' We're having a bonding moment here, Lance." In other words, there's no way in hell Lance was getting back into that watery death trap by himself. 

Lance groaned, but he couldn't resist the setup and they both knew it. "Never let go, Jack!" He reached out with one hand to dramatically swoon over Keith's shoulder, then paused. His body gave one long tremor that Keith feared was not part of the act. "You got that reference, right?"

"Yes, Lance. I've seen the Titanic." Lance humphed disbelievingly, but it was obvious his focus was drifting. He was already leaning toward the water as though magnetized.

Keith looked longingly at his helmet across the lake. He really needed to check in with Shiro and the team. But he would probably have to drag Lance over there with him to get to it since he refused to be left alone in the dark for three minutes. Keith couldn't really blame him. 

_S__oon_, he told himself firmly. 

_Here goes nothing._

Keith sunk in. Very slowly. It was shiver-inducing to watch as the black liquid crept up and swallowed his legs, then his waist and chest. It was also _damn _cold. He had been expecting it, but still he felt the spike in his heart rate and goosebumps raise on his skin. He carefully lingered close to the ledge, settling Lance securely at his side. Lance sighed when he hit the water, sounding somewhat pleased, and he was so close that Keith felt it on the column of his neck. He swallowed.

The water sloshed with each of their movements. Keith was eyeing the inky pulses that spread away in rings on the black surface and disappeared into the lagoon. His gut jerked each time he imagined a webbed claw rising hauntingly out of the water. 

"So is it helping?" 

"Keep your mullet on!" Lance snapped, but seemed sheepish a moment later when he added, "Just...give me a second." Keith watched Lance closely. He was gripping his arms around his front as though giving himself a hug. "Ugh." 

"I thought you said the water would help," Keith murmured, trying not to sound worried.

"It is helping," he retorted too quickly. Keith raised a brow. Somehow Lance must have heard the skepticism in his silence. He slumped, all but his head disappearing into the water. "Well it did before. It does hurt less, but it's still so _hot,_ you know? Cálido, _dios mio._"

_"_I hope you're kidding. It's freaking freezing." 

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" (He didn't - he still had sweat seeping across his face. Keith had learned the hard way not to mention anything that could trigger Lance into a tirade on facial products.)

"Who set the thermostat to 'hell'," Lance whined. Well that wasn't a good sign as far possible infection or fever. But at least he was sounding more like his normal self? 

Lance spun so fast that Keith got a face full of water. "Watch it!" He growled as fresh droplets streamed down the back of his suit, enticing a shiver. 

Lance leaned heavily on the ledge with purpose, shakily lifting his arm to unhinge the latches along the metallic seams of his blue armor. He discarded the layers of armor and gear in a well-organized pile beside the pool. Which was impressive given that he couldn't see. Keith pursed his lips and sighed, "Really, Lance? Do you have to be a diva right now?" 

The blue paladin ignored him like it was his job. Keith glared. Did he really have to point out how dangerous it would be for Lance to remove his armor on a hostile alien planet just because he was feeling a little warm? He dragged his palm down his face. 

The more pieces he removed, the more his fingers seem to fumble with the task. When Lance's torso was clad only in his black flight suit, he started on his legs. 

And _that_ is when Lance lost it. 

Keith was watching Lance's hands ghost over the fastener along his thigh, clenching in what looked like frustration, "What the cheese! I can't get this _off-_I swear Allura and Coran did this just to torture us. Secret, on-the-sly training or something." He huffed. "Why'd they make these so-" 

The red paladin was about to laugh at that when Lance froze completely, stiffening from head to toe in an instant. The muscles along Lance's bare neck visibly seized. The boy opened his mouth in a silent cry.

Keith scrambled to his feet, agile, but he still slipped on the slick rock floor of the lake. He stumbled through the water to get to his teammate. Lance was doubled over, face centimeters from the water.

He paused beside him, whispering a tenative "Lance?"

His limbs were thrashing in the next second, the water swashing and spraying wildly around him. Keith had to dodge flailing arms and rub water out of his eyes in order to wrangle a hold on both his biceps. Keith grunted when an elbow jabbed him in the abdomen due to an uncontrollable spasm. 

Keith didn't know how to describe the movement of those muscles just below the tanned skin. They felt _wrong, _rotating and rolling in ways they shouldn't. It was like his body was distorting against his will. Keith's stomach heaved.

When Keith attempted to heave the struggling boy back onto the rocks, his body convulsed against his own in a way he _knew_ was painful, like something shifted firmly out of place. Lance _screamed_. Keith's heart and stomach dropped in tandem at the feel and sound Lance's body had made. _What the hell is happening to him?_

"I'm sorry, Lance," he breathed with sympathy, close to his ear. "We need to get out. The water is loud and I can't do anything to protect you in here if those creatures show up." He hoped that the boy would be lucid enough to understand his words. 

Lance sunk fluidly into the water, hands dragging and clenching at anything he could as he dropped below the surface. On reflex, Keith yanked him up by the shoulders, pulling him in so they were pressed chest-to-chest in a grim rendition of their earlier hug. His arms looped around the boy's waist to hold him steady. In response, Lance's fingers laced into the tuft of hair tied at his neck and pulled. Lance seemed to want to fight him off and weld their bodies together at the same time. 

"I _can't-I really can't,_" Lance cried at him, or maybe just at the dark ceiling in general. "_Gotta stay here." _ He sobbed, sounding like he loved the prospect of lingering in the water about as much as Keith. His fingertips were raking along his legs. Keith winced at the sound of his nails grating on the armor. "Get them off, god _Keith, please."_ He sobbed. "It's so hot-it hurts." 

"Yeah, okay." Keith gripped Lance hard to guide him to his knees. Lance sniveled, covering both eyes with his arm flung across his nose in a way that could only be considered guileless_._ Keith thought he might be crying but it was hard to tell with how drenched they both were. 

Another wave of muscle contractions rocked through him. Lance was grinding his teeth and panting. The red paladin reached forward, pretty sure his own fingers were shaking at this point, and stroked Lance's cheekbone with the back of his knuckles. Lance inhaled deeply and choked but didn't release the breath, like he was waiting on the edge of something. "Just tell me what to do. Anything you need - shouldn’t be too hard, yeah? Usually we can’t get you to stop talking." 

Keith felt the gentlest pressure as Lance leaned into the touch. The skin was warm there, doubly hot, but his eyes remained hidden by his hand, leaving Keith to wonder what his expression looked like underneath. Lance trusted him - that’s what that meant, right? Keith swallowed and let his hand slide away. His nails were long and pointed now, the stress having pushed his usual awareness of his latent Galra abilities out the window a long time ago. 

Lance's frame flinched in a tight, distorted forward roll when Keith's hand drifted past his neck. Taken aback, the red paladin gasped at the reaction. That was telling. Keith peered with wide eyes at the collar of the flight suit. There were two identical marks high on Lance's neck, just below his ear where his jaw met the soft skin of his throat. Small, perfect holes about two inches apart. They were deep. Fang marks. 

A chorus of _fuck shit fucks _chanted in Keith's brain. Lance had been bitten. Unless someone on Team Voltron was secretly a vampire, (possible but not plausible) then Lance had been bitten by a vampire mermonster within the last five or so hours. And was...having an allergic reaction? Was infected with mermonster venom? Keith had no way of knowing. What he did know was some animalistic part of himself (that Keith inherently recognized as Galra) did _not_ like seeing or feeling those bite marks on Lance's neck. In fact, he could feel a throb of something deep and long-obscured mounting within him at the bare idea of it. And he had no idea what that meant either. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 will feature Lance stripping, Keith getting in on some of that wholesome hugging science, and Lance continuing to have a really bad day. (I'm sorry Lance, it's going to get worse before it gets better!)
> 
> Thank you for reading ~


	3. Take it Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The blue paladin needs some help removing his armor ;)

Lance fumbled at the clasp on his armored knee. His legs were sprawled and he was leaning heavily on Keith, the muscles in his neck twitching sporadically and forcing him to seize against his partner’s grip. When the catch swiped through his fingers for the third time, the blue paladin pounded his fist against his thigh. Naturally, the armor didn’t give. It laid against him, as constricting and heavy as ever. He groaned a frustrated whine.

“What is _ wrong _ with me? _ ” _

Meanwhile, Keith’s dumb mouth was on auto-pilot. “Dude, the list is endless.” 

Lance twisted his head around to pout and glare, which would have been more effective if he could actually see him. “Seriously!? I _ thought _you were being too nice! I’m like, dying here and that’s all you’ve got to say?”

“DON’T SAY THAT_ ! _” 

Lance flinched at the volume and Keith was instantly sorry. “No! Dammit, I didn’t mean-” Keith glared down at his claws and grumbled. “You’re impossible.”

“Uh, come again? We need to work on your enunciation, dropout.”

For all his suffering, Lance looked smug. Keith wanted nothing more in that moment than to whack him across the head. That was the first thing he’d do as soon as he drug Lance’s ass back to the ship. It was healthy to set goals, right? 

Keith dropped his head into his palm, the next words muffled by his fingers. “You’re not gonna die.” 

“Dude, get your mullet out of your mouth and talk to me like a human, would you?” 

Keith dropped his fists with a splash and practically roared in Lance’s face. “I’m not going to let you die, _ stupid _!” He huffed testily, an inch from the boy’s nose. 

Lance’s eyes bulged and he blinked once, slowly. When he recovered, his face repositioned into his usual cocky leer and he batted his eyelashes dramatically. “I think that's the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” 

Keith snorted. “Don’t get used to it. You want help with that or not?” 

“Since yer feelin’ so generous, take off this piece first,” Lance slurred his words a bit, gesturing unseeingly to the offending armor plastered to his thigh. 

Keith shuffled beside Lance, dark water biting icily at his joints where his own amor didn’t extend. His knees scraped along the rocky bank as he attempted to prop the blue paladin against the craggy seawall. Keith felt his heel give on the slick stone floor and he was met with a facefull of choppy black water. He gasped as the swell swept past his fangs in a cold rush. His Galran fangs were more sensitive than his normal human incisors, so the sudden freezing liquid was not welcome.

Keith sat grumpily back on his haunches, dripping and spitting. The water tasted just as freezing and gloomy and foreboding as it looked, comparable to soot and iron. The tang reminded him of blood. _Cheery._

“Keith!” Lance’s head was twisting back and forth, suddenly animated and straining his taut muscles. All traces of his playful grin were gone. 

“Are you okay? Where are you?” His fingers grasped at open air. Those blue eyes were wide and searching, unable to find anything but unbroken, organic darkness. 

The red paladin stumbled closer, unintentionally showering Lance in a small deluge as he plunked down beside him, palm bracing the rockside above the huddled boy for balance. 

Keith laid his fingertips on Lance’s flank, a gentle greeting. Or so he thought. Oops.

Lance squeaked and flinched hard. A physical reaction, Keith applied pressure to the boy’s hip just beneath the dark surface, protected only by the thin black flight-suit. The pained wet hiccup Lance made in response had Keith’s hands butterflying away. 

“Just me,” Keith whispered, internally panicking. So much for gentle. “My bad.” At least Lance didn't see him face-plant. Being on constant alert for the both of them was starting to get to him.

Lance sniggered at that, “K-kay. Just be easy with the goods, hothead.” 

There was no heat behind the words. The blue paladin deflated and slipped weakly against the rock. Keith’s eyes tracked the hair along his nape as it slid wetly along the stone behind his head. He itched to warn Lance to be careful with the open bite wound so close to the jutting slope of rock, but he was unsure if his teammate was aware of that little detail yet. 

Keith held his tongue, settling instead for resting his hand on Lance’s sternum, preventing him from slipping beneath the water’s surface yet again. The boy wobbled, his abdomen tensing beneath Keith’s steadying palm. Up close, Keith studied the purple divots staining the skin below Lance’s eyes, his chewed lips, and his erratically twitching pulse. His body still seemed to be shifting in periodic spasms, like the muscles, bones, and tendons weren’t happy in their own skin. Worst of all were those fresh fang marks, deep and scarlet red. Keith lifted his lip at the angrier red that was spreading in irritated ringlets around each hole. The tan skin along the column of his neck was otherwise smooth and covered in a sheen of sweat. 

“Too tight,” Lance whimpered and weakly tugged at the constricting armor around his thigh. Jesus, he could barely make a fist. The whites of his eyes flashed in the dark as his eyes rolled.

“I’m on it. Try to hold still.” 

He crooked down with urgency to get to work on removing the remaining blue armor. Unbuckling the latches on Lance's thighs and calves proved difficult due to the boy’s constant shaking. Not to mention the water slapping there angrily to make every tug unsuccessful. Keith tsked as the gear slipped between his gloved fingers. The awareness that they were knee deep (literally) in dangerous territory was not helping either. Keith nestled in between Lance's legs to see clearly, crouching on his hands and knees. The dark water lapped at his elbows as he worked, looking eerily like ink. 

Above him, Lance gasped as a fresh wave of pain wracked through him and his thigh gave a sudden jolt. Keith winced when the armor pressed hard into his cheek, forcing him to cock his head unnaturally. The red paladin grunted, the sound a combination of frustration and snippiness. 

However, peering up from this position was a mistake. For the first time since he’d found Lance, he was very glad he couldn't see him. He was vividly reminded of what this arrangement must have looked like, fingers splayed along thighs and his nose ducked to hover bare inches above the dip below Lance’s abdomen. Lance was looking down toward him, shivering uncontrollably and biting his lip to keep from crying out. He honestly looked like he was trying not to scream. A prickly surge of warmth dropped hard like a stone in Keith’s gut. _ What. The. Fuck. _

The red paladin whipped his head away so fast his neck cracked. He glared pointedly at the elusive armor clasps. If there was a deep crimson flush pulsing high on his cheeks and along the tips of his ears, no one was there to see it. 

_ Focus. _Keith inhaled a swift breath and squared his shoulders. "Let's do this," he murmured to no one in particular. 

He unlatched the seals for his own chest armor in order to get closer. With a soft growl he yanked off his gloves with his teeth. The pads of his fingers found purchase more easily along the smooth blue metal.

“Never thought I’d say this, but don’t go quiet on me Lance,” The red paladin commanded, hands busy. “How are you doing up there?”

Lance choked out a never-before-heard mixture of a snort, a moan, and a gurgled cough in response. Keith winced. 

“That good, huh?” 

The red paladin tried to keep the strained worry out of his voice, gritting his teeth to detain a low grumble. He cleared his throat, armor creaking as he returned his attention to his task. It was silent for a few minutes as he worked, releasing a grunt every now and then as he twisted to reach the armored plates. 

A gentle brush of movement along the crown of his head gave him pause, his hands frozen attentively at the crook of Lance’s knee. Brown fingers searched fumblingly for a tick or two before they found a locke of Keith’s hair, a damp tuft just behind his ear. The blue paladin gave a soft tug at his hair. Even though his fingers were trembling, it somefuckinghow managed to feel both mirthful and warm without words. Keith felt a lump rise at the back of his throat.

How Lance had the presence of mind to provide a calming gesture in a situation like this was beyond the frazzled red pilot. Selfless idiot. 

As much as they fought, Keith was maybe-just-a-little-bit in awe of his comrade’s ability to make connections with people in ways he never could. It’s not going to be awkward for Keith when they get back to the castle ship and Lance starts heckling him and treating him the same as always. It’s not going to be awkward knowing how brave and supportive Lance is in the most dire of situations; knowing how Lance’s skin is strangely soft because even drowning doesn’t stand a chance against Lance’s skincare routine; knowing how if there was literally any other member of Team Voltron here he wouldn’t need or want Keith like this. 

It’s not going to be awkward. It’s not. 

He swallowed about twenty times before speaking, brain suddenly empty. He scrambled for any words he could puzzle into a sentence. 

“You wouldn’t happen to secretly _ like _ my hair, would you?” The ministrations stilled for a tick and the band holding his hair in a moppy bun slid loose between slender fingers. 

Not for the first time on this diabolical waterpark adventure, Keith mentally facepalmed at his ability to demolish any social normalcy between the two paladins. This might not have been normal behavior for Lance with Keith, but he’d seen Lance fiddle with Hunk’s hair relentlessly and Allura had even asked him to braid hers a few times. Deeming himself less likely to offend Lance, Keith shut his mouth. 

It was silent outside of his partner’s labored breathing and a particularly loud squelch as Lance attempted to readjust himself against the rocks. The angle must have hurt because Keith heard an aggravated hiss of a sigh. At this point, Keith wondered if it would be easier for Lance to tell him what _ didn’t _hurt. 

Keith was almost done with Lance’s left leg when the calloused pads of those fingers began to knead a slow, jagged path through his hair again. The movement was shaky, but purposeful, like Lance was trying to press the strain right out of Keith.

Keith didn’t realize he’d pressed himself further into the soothing touch until Lance croaked a raspy chuckle. But when he spoke, his voice was wrecked. 

“Oye, you wouldn’t happen to secretly be a cuddly space-cat,” Lance whispered the next words like a mischievous schoolboy, “...would you, hermoso?” Keith frowned, thick brows furrowing. He _ hated _the way Lance struggled to speak. 

“Lance. You really should save your voice. Besides, I’m not ‘cuddly’. I’m a Galra. More like anti-cuddly,” he finished the statement with finger quotes, a gesture he’d picked up from spending too much time with the satirical green paladin.

Lance’s grin was shockingly wide and white in the dark. He flicked Keith’s temple with icy fingers. “Anti-cuddly Galrans don’t purr, Keith.” 

Keith felt an unexplained sense of panic. Which was weird because Lance had literally told him that his Galran heritage ‘wasn’t creepy’ less than a varga ago. Still, he ducked away sharply and Lance’s hand fell away with a subdued splash. Keith was sorry to see the smile slink off the boy’s face. “I wasn’t! I didn’t! I don’t!“ he stuttered. “I don’t purr.” 

“Gosh, take a chill pill! I know it might actually kill you to show an emotion besides grumpy emo edgelord!” 

The red paladin rolled his eyes so hard it actually hurt. He bent down to get back to work. 

“First of all. I am not an ‘emo edgelord.’ I don’t know where you and Pidge come up with this shit,” he grumbled, finally getting a firm hold around Lance’s left thigh-guard. Lanced sighed in relief as the bulky piece was lifted away. 

“You look like you raided Hot Topic. Also, I don’t hear you denying the ‘grumpy’ part-” he rasped.

Keith cut in. “And secondly. If you’re so desperate to torture what’s left of your voice, you could use your mouth for something useful. Like filling me in on what happened after the fight? Or, I don’t know, why you decided to take a nap face-down in an underwater lake?” Honestly, Keith could have kept going. Lance couldn’t be left alone for a minute without trying to blow himself up or kill himself in an underground cave labyrinth. 

Lance’s eyes widened in protest, but he swallowed whatever torrent of words he was prepared to retaliate with in an awkward gulp. His lean thighs tightened beneath Keith’s palms. Keith flinched, feeling the grotesque muscle movement in minute detail now that the firm armor was no longer between them. The shivering intensified until the blue paladin was practically vibrating. One hand yanked at the collar of his flight suit while the other scrabbled uselessly at the shin-guard clasp Keith had yet to remove. Keith flinched at the muted screech of blunt nails digging against metal. 

He couldn’t put much thought into the sudden staccato grinding because the bare idea of Lance’s body internally constricting to make a sound like that had bile rising in his throat. 

“Whoa! Hey!” He reached with authority and extricated those brown fingers. They felt burning hot against his own. 

“You’ll thank me later when you still have nails, numbskull,” He began quietly. Lance wedged out a tiny nod. There was a deep click from somewhere along Lance’s foreleg, peeking out above the quivering waterline. And Lance _shrieked_, cringing and recoiling like he wanted to sink into the rock wall behind him. Keith’s own nails dug crisply into his palms as he watched, helpless. 

“Whatever this is, you’re doing really well. So well, Lance.” Keith continued to blurt an unending spiel of nonsense words to try to console the boy and drown out Lance’s low whimpers. 

“The team is on the way! You’ve just got to last a little bit longer,” he tried to speak the words with militant confidence (given that Lance needed a pod like yesterday and he had no idea if Pidge had pinpointed their location or how far away they truly were from rescue.) But Keith really didn’t want to hear Lance scream again. 

With the enduring blackness all around them, Keith had no idea how long he cradled the boy, his cheek pressed into the smooth dark flight suit on Lance’s shoulder. Eventually, the cries tapered off into ragged breathing.

“Try to focus, buddy. Tell me what happened and I’ll handle the armor, okay?” He gave Lance’s fingers a squeeze before releasing them. “Take your time.” Lance’s brows rose at Keith’s gentle inflection, lacking its usual cynicism. He gaped at Keith. Which was unfair! Lance didn’t have to be _ that _surprised. 

He paused, waiting for Lance to stop trembling long enough to unlatch his shin guard. Hesitant to hurt the boy, Keith looked up sharply each time his extended claws caught in the fabric of the skin tight flight suit. He discarded both red and blue plates of armor to sit in the shallows beside them, leaning on each other like leftover wreckage. 

When he'd fully disentangled the blue paladin from the armor, chucking the pieces much less gracefully onto the shore than Lance had, Keith sighed deeply, somewhat exhausted. He carefully scooted back into a sitting position.

In an effort to get Lance to focus on his words rather than the pain, Keith began, “All I can remember is seeing that last mermonster in the reef. I think I landed a hit on it, but then I must have passed out ‘cuz I’ve got nothing after that.” 

“Yeah,” The word came out like tearing paper. Lance cleared his throat, putting careful focus into forming words. “It was in my blindspot. Puta madre, ya surprised me when you pulled that ninja shit right over my shoulder. What’s new, though?” Lance wheezed a laugh, like Keith’s impulsiveness was ironically predictable.

“Your attack stunned the creature and it took off, but when you collided it also clocked you on the head. Looked like it hurt.” Keith hummed in response, remembering the crusted blood on his temple when he woke up. 

“Mm. And then what?” 

“Well, then you passed right the fuck out. Swooned in my arms like a damsel.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure that’s exactly how it happened.”

“Just telling it how I see it.” 

He continued, “Anyway, I figured we had to get out of open water. So I took you down to the reef to one of these little alcoves.” Lance licked his lips, grimacing. “I was kind’ve freaking out a little bit since you had a head wound and I obviously couldn’t remove your helmet to treat it. And you wouldn’t wake up. So. Yeah.” 

Keith bit his lip, pointedly studying the contrast of his pale hands against his own bruised red armor. He didn’t know whether he was more embarrassed that Lance seemed to have been genuinely worried about him, or that he’d left his comrade to do the job of two paladins. They’d been on Team Voltron long enough for Lance to know that the grumbling boy was too awkward to respond to that statement tactfully, so he babbled on. 

“I tried to com the team. The connection was so bad it sounded like Coran snoring! I can’t believe you slept through that!” Lance barked, but the sound morphed into a watery cough. Keith patted his knee like that would help the coughing fit pass. 

“Then another one of those creatures showed up.”

Keith looked up sharply. “What happened?” 

Lance shivered. “It was. Uh. It was a weird one. Watched me for a little bit. Wasn’t as aggressive as the others at first. Gave me time to stash your scrawny ass, though.” 

Keith raised one brow, incredulous. “What am I, cargo?” 

“Exactly. You know, I’d be happy to offer you swimming lessons. Then maybe you won’t get in the way next time.” 

Keith scoffed, but couldn’t help but wonder again why had he been so careless. Getting KO’d and becoming a burden on his teammate is the last thing he wanted, even if that teammate was Lance. If he’d been awake to help finish the mission, maybe they could have found the quintessence shell and been back at the castle by now. Maybe Lance wouldn’t look like he’d been bullied by Dracula and twisted up like a pretzel. 

“Yeah, yeah. I had so many chances to practice swimming in the _ desert _,” Keith tsked and bit his lip, anxious for the next part of Lance’s report. “Did it attack you?” He wished he didn’t already know the answer.

“That’s the thing. It lurked for a really long time. I remember exactly what it looked like and everything cuz’ it was just ogling me.” Keith frowned. “Which it, you know, can’t be blamed for.” Lance gave a tired wink.

“So you were defeated by a staring contest with a fish. Riveting.” 

“No, you-! Well, I really didn’t think it was going to attack me, I guess. And I figured if it was going to leave us alone I didn’t want to hurt it, you know? It wasn’t my _ ideal _ concept of a mermaid, but mermaids are still pretty cool.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, considering. His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered. “But it surprise attacked me, that slimey-” Lance’s slapped his hand to his neck, “And then it bit me!” He hissed at the contact. “Freaking _ ouch _!” 

“You literally did that to yourself.” 

“Thanks for caring, Keith.” 

“That’s what you get for playing petting zoo.” 

“And Keith?” 

“Hm?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way but I need you to take off my clothes.” 

Silence. 

Keith’s eye twitched as his brain short circuited for approximately the fifth time today. O-_ kay _ then. 

“You want me to-uh. What?” Smooth as crunchy peanut butter.

“Dude, not in a weird way! Not that it’s weird for two dudes to take off each other’s clothes-more like, I just need you to! Ugh, not like that!” Lance whined, presumably at his own word choice. “Just-” Lance’s cheeks were frosted a pretty rust pink. He pinched the spandex material at his collar with the tips of his fingers. “Please. I need your help.”

Keith got as far as: “Um-” 

“I promise we can forget all about it when we get back.” Lance sniffed. “I’m sorry you have to take care of me like this. I managed to mess up this mission pretty bad, huh?”

This dimwit was awfully prone to forgetting any moment between the two of them where they weren’t actively arguing. Obviously, Lance didn’t want to remember. Which was just fine. Keith had obviously misinterpreted them becoming closer. Fantastic. Moving on. 

“So? We’re agreed? What happens in underwater death labyrinth stays in underwater death labyrinth?” Lance asked hopefully. 

Keith frowned and shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s get it over with.” His tone was slightly frigid. He blew a puff of air through his lips, bangs fluttering. 

But Lance seemed appeased. Lance yanked the flight suit down to reveal a sliver of sleek collarbone. He sought out the glow of Keith’s yellow eyes, watching him and waiting expectantly. The scent there between the juncture of his neck and jaw was potent. Ocean salt and musk and the scent of someone...or some_ thing _ else lingered there with purpose, overpowering. Keith’s tired mind supplied the word for the intention he was certain came with it: ownership. The bite had a claiming quality to it. Lance smelled like that _ creature _that bit him. He vaguely recognized the dull snapping sound as his own jaw tensing and popping dangerously. 

Beneath the overpowering external smells, there was also a temper of something familiar and warm, like cinnamon. It was so starkly at war with the territorial scent. Keith’s lips parted for a slow inhale, following the calming underlying aroma. It wasn’t his first time catching a whiff of Lance’s natural scent. It was however, the first time he’d been so close, feeling almost invited to soak in the disarming flavor. 

When his Galra attributes had first emerged, he’d noticed never-before lingering pools of smells all over the castle. It took him more than a few quintents to connect that those unique scents actually belonged to his teammates. Hunk’s complex blend of spicy and sweet was ingrained into every inch of the kitchen. Keith was smarter than to inform Pidge of how flowery and reassuring her scent was, but he often smirked fondly at her feminine touch left behind on mechanical trinkets strewn about the ship like toys. Keith wanted in a way that he couldnt put into words to tell Shiro that he smelled like home, familial in a way no one else did. A bitter, childish part of himself just _ couldn’t _ tell him. He didn’t want Shiro to identify him as even _ more _Galra than he already was. It was a weird day to say the least when he discovered that no one else smelled quite like his obnoxious rival either. 

Keith inhaled and tasted the sun on the back of his tongue, soaked in the aroma of sweet cinnamon and prickly heat. The swirl of tangy summer scents coaxed the hair to raise along his arms, a vexingly comforting and provocative fog filling his nose, his mouth, his mind. That repulsive scent of ownership could be easily replaced. Warmth pooled low in his stomach. 

“Don’t tell me it’s your first time taking off somebody’s clothes, hotshot.” Lance’s snarky question broke his trance. He raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at Keith. 

The red paladin stiffened sharply. He held his breath as he blinked rapidly with sudden wide eyes, coming back to himself like he’d been plucked out of his body. _ What the hell was that?! _

He didn’t know when he’d angled his head to hover at the crook of Lance’s neck. His face was tilted toward the black ceiling beneath Lance’s chin, eyes hooded. Shock coiled tight like metal springs in his stomach when Keith found his mouth was open just above the bite marks, lips pulled back to reveal his white elongated incisors. That was...concerning.

Keith snapped his mouth closed and forced the panic off his face out of pure instinct, forgetting his companion couldn’t see his expression anyway. _ Oh my god. Fuck. Fucking fuck. Was I going to bite him? _ Keith swallowed. Or he tried to. His throat was too tight. 

_ I think I wanted to. _

_ Fuck. Sorry, Lance. _This was a serious problem. In a lot of ways. But it was going to have to be a serious problem for future Keith.

“-Ugh, actually no. I don’t know why I said that. You’re you. Of course you have-” Lance cleared his throat and restarted and Keith floundered to catch up with the conversation. “You know what, if you could go ahead and add that to the list of things we never talk about again on this trip, that would be great! I didn’t mean to make it weird.”

Keith opened his mouth to comment on the proven detail that Lance did in fact make everything weird, but there was something comforting about his partner’s stupid babbling. He huffed a fond chuckle instead.

“I’m so glad you find all this so charming. But if you've got a few spare minutes...could you get this suit off before my legs explode, Mullet-for-brains?!”

_ I take it back. He’s an ass. _

“Alright already, your highness!_ ” _

“Oh whatever! Bite me, Mullet!”

Keith scoffed at that choice comeback, because he just _ might _. He felt a dull throb in his fangs, reminding him of the enticing tingle along his jaw when he tasted something sickeningly sweet. 

God. He really needed to get them out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol Keith likes the way Lance smells <3 ;)
> 
> PS: I'm starting to feel guilty so I added a whump tag for Lance


	4. Agony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Tiny warning for self-harm just in case!
> 
> Things are getting a little zesty ~

Snaking his hand along the back of Lance’s suit, Keith fumbled for the knob embedded in the fabric to release the vacuum adhesion. He kept his touch feather-light, but Lance’s spine still went straight at the contact. 

A flush settled over Lance’s face; the red paladin’s eyes tracked the foggy color as it spread to his neck and disappeared beneath his collar. He was starting to look really sick again, breath stuttering and eyes hooded.

The red paladin’s fingers finally located the knob in the slick material (it was harder to do on someone else, okay?) and he pressed the tiny button. The flight suit released the standard technical hiss as the vacuum suction shut off in a short burst. It clung loosely to the blue paladin, ready to be removed. Keith tucked his thumb under the fabric, ghosting along Lance’s neck and trying to remove the suit without actually touching his teammate. Which was admittedly a little ridiculous. But with Lance glowing cherry-red with wet eyes and parted lips, probably about to have another convulsive seizure, Keith was about to crawl out of his own skin. 

Keith started to unroll the material at the crook of his neck, then down to his shoulder, and further down past his biceps and forearms. The skin was still achingly hot. As he unveiled Lance’s chest, the boy sighed in relief at the cold air. 

The suit came pretty willingly off Lance’s torso, all things considered. Keith’s thumb slipped in the sweat along his ribs and his claws knotted in the material. It gathered below his waist and the red paladin frowned at the pallor. 

Lance was frighteningly pale and beads of sweat pearled in excess along his smooth skin. A sickening cloud rose in Keith’s throat as he worked to peel the suit from the hips down. He could already see what looked to be bruises and blood peeking out above his slender hip bones. 

Breathily, Lance piped up, “It hurts- _ hah. _” He tried again. “It hurts all over. I think next round is gon’ be...bad.” As if that wasn’t the biggest exaggeration Keith had heard this phoeb. 

Lance turned his face away, eyes shadowed by his fringe. “You’re not going to like this, but I think you should leave me and get to the surface to wait for the team-” The words were spoken in one breath. 

Keith couldn’t believe his ears.

“Oh yeah! I’m sure Shiro and Hunk and Pidge would just love it if I left you here! Are you _ trying _ to die?!” Keith snarled sarcastically down at him. “For the _ second _quiznacking time?!” 

Lance was glaring up at him with giant dark eyes, but they were hazy. Something different about the shape, the color. His neck gave a slow spasmodic tug and he grimaced, ruining any chance of his beating Keith in a one-sided glaring match. 

After a tick he snorted, letting his head fall to hang over his chest as though he couldn’t hold it up anymore. 

“You know what? I still don’t think you’re using that word correctly.” 

“YOU-” Keith honestly might have exploded if Lance hadn’t spoken his next words with conviction and honesty. 

“I know. You’re right. I’m sorry.” 

“You’re what? And I’m...what? And you’re _ what? _” Keith spluttered. “Did you just say I was right? Who are you and what have you done with Lance?”

“Now you’re really sounding like my favorite dropout,” Lance teased.

Keith released one of his hands to cuff the idiot upside the head. His hand paused at the last second over Lance’s cheek, eyes tracking the blood spattered there. Meanwhile, Lance’s face was leveling into something resembling sheepishness. 

“There’s no way I’d leave you in a time like this either, so. Thanks, I guess.” He crossed his arms to pout, lip jutting dramatically. It should not have been cute. The cave was damn cold, but Keith felt a fresh flood of warmth.

“Ugh, now I know for _ sure _something is seriously wrong with me,” Lance groaned. 

“Yeah.” Silence. 

“Wow. That was a great setup, Mullet. It’s not like you to miss a chance to be a saucy emo kid. How do I know you’re not an imposter?” 

“I’m worried about you, Lance.” Keith let his hovering hand fall to Lance’s cheek. He wiped away the blood there the best he could with his numb fingers. “Is that so hard to believe?” 

The blue paladin cocked his head. A barely-there smile turned up the corner of his lips. The following words were quiet and a little shaky, “I never know what you’re thinking, Red.” 

He was definitely hurting bad, but at some point Keith was going to have to shimmy the material over Lance’s hips. Might as well get it over with. Keith whispered an apology and pulled Lance’s back into an arch. 

“Um, ow?” Lance yipped as the suit was yanked down over his hips in one swift movement, grasping wearily at Keith’s arms for support. The shiny black suit gathered at his thighs. He pulled it down further still.

Keith growled out a guttural hiss. His heart began a steady, painful hammering. “The fuck?” he breathed with horror. 

He couldn’t do more than stare at his companion’s legs. The boy’s lower half was colored in massive gashes and bruising. Keith’s gaze lingered on an unnatural bend in Lance’s knee, dried blood plastered across the wound like it had already opened and closed many times. If he stared carefully, he could almost swear the bone shifted minutely while he watched, grating across obstruent tendons. 

Smears of blood that had been soaking the lining of the suit washed away, disappearing on impact with the dark water. Lance’s calves and feet were no better. In fact, his feet were as black as the murky water. There was barely any skin left unmarred. Keith uncurled the rest of the suit from there, letting it slink into the dark water with a tiny plash. 

“Ts’ bad?” Lance’s words blended together. 

“Uh,” the red paladin floundered. His mouth was dry and he had a hard time speaking around his clenched teeth. He relented with a candid, “Not great?” 

Lance looked like he wanted to laugh at his blunt comrade, mouth quirked at the corner. Instead, he jerked his head away, eyes flicked to the side and hidden by the slant of his eyelashes. 

“Figured as much. I can’t feel my legs anymore anyway.” 

_ Fuck. _

Keith’s heart actually skipped a beat, puttering uselessly for a tick as he watched a single tear glide down Lance’s cheek and dribble onto his bare chest. 

How could it have have gotten this bad this fast? Lance looked like he’d been burned and molded like playdough. There was no protocol for this in the Garrison Handbook. Plus, it only seemed to get worse and worse as time passed. The blue paladin, their sharpshooter and resident winsome idiot, really was in danger of dying. 

Keith bit his cheek hard to keep from making a sound. It felt like there was a balloon expanding and sticking to the inside of his ribs. The red pilot’s fang pierced straight through his lip and his hand slinked up to pull at the roots of his hair. Lance chirped a tiny, nervous sound at the loss of contact as he stood and ambled a few paces away, chest heaving. Keith flinched at the helpless sound, mouth turning down at the corners. 

Unsure if he wanted to cry or explode, Keith reared back, fist coiled in a white knuckled grip, and threw an explosive right hook into the rock wall with blistering speed. Beside him, Lance blanched at the _ CRACK _as crumbles of slate and dust clattered into the shallows at their feet. 

“Kei-” Lance tried. He was interrupted by a coughing fit, doubling over. Speckles of blood dotted his already-mangled thighs. 

“I’m going to kill that monster.” The red paladin’s voice didn’t shake. It was soft and deadly. 

Rival or not, Keith wasn’t going to let these mermonsters get away with torturing Lance. Breathless, but already feeling stronger with his declaration, he considered taking vengeance against the rock one more time. He was vibrating with pent-up intensity. 

It was a tick or two until Keith noticed the chilling irregularity in his comrade’s breathing. His ear twitched, a sign he had come to perceive as a warning that he was on the peak of developing purple batlike tufts in place of human ears. This transformation rarely occurred, as it usually brought with it the final and most recognizable Galra attributes, most notably a stain of faint lavender skin. The last time his hybrid ears had surfaced was when Shiro had chastised him in front of _ everyone _ for losing his cool during and after a mission. He’d stormed to his room and awoken with torn pillows, shredded blankets, and minimalist Altean furniture upended. _ Great. _ Keith tried to focus on the blue paladin and ignore the telltale prickling beneath his skin. 

“Lance?” 

It went unanswered. 

Lance heaved and this time his chest didn’t expand. His jaw hung open, suspended. Keith ambled to his knees, cocking his head for a better look. The boy’s eyes were round with fear.

Fuck, what_ now?! _

Keith’s eyes were drawn to the blue paladin’s fingers. They were digging into his neck on each side, eyes squeezed shut tightly. Keith watched for a horrified second as his blunt nails trailed fresh, bloody fissures in parallel arcs across the vulnerable skin. The blue paladin surged forward again and again, a rocking motion similar to gagging, like he was unsuccessfully trying to gulp down air. 

“_ WOA _ Lance, what are you _ doing _!” Keith managed to bark out the words and cringe at the same time. Lance coughed, the raw wounds exposed on the column of his neck as his body gave a jerky roll. 

“Lance, _ please! _ Tell me what’s going on.” Keith struggled to keep his voice even and calm while he internally wished they weren’t completely alone down here. Hunk would know how to at least calm his teammate and Shiro would give him some freaking idea what to do. Probably _ not _ turn into a fanged purple monster for starters. 

Lance blinked rapidly like he was trying to focus on Keith’s words. With what looked like inhuman effort his hands dropped from his neck, but he was still convulsing, chest jumping irregularly. The blue paladin had sunk down to his elbows now, chin tilted to the ceiling and shivering so hard he was practically vibrating. His eyes were scrunched close again.

“Hurts here-” 

He jabbed at his neck in explanation. He coughed and delicate line of blood trickled from the corner of his lips down to his chin. The next words were slurred. 

“S’like being sliced- _ Ugh _ , but from the _ inside _.” 

Keith jolted as Lance let his head tip deeper back into the pool, nose and mouth barely remaining above the waterline. He felt an irrational fear spread in icy tendrils when Lance was largely blocked from view like this, a hair’s breadth beneath the water. A small cloud of blood grew ever redder in the water around Lance’s head like some kind of fucked up halo. 

A scream ripped from Lance like splintering glass, sudden and shrill. It filled the cavern with a deafening volume that caused his ears to flatten and quiver. Keith could tell he had no idea it was coming, because the cry ended on a high note, like a question. 

His back arched obscenely, neck twisting and writhing from side to side. Water filled his mouth in a small cascade as he splashed and his scream morphed into a watery gurgle. His fingers found their way back to his neck with viper-like speed and urgency. But there was more force this time. Lance was not just digging with his nails but gripping with his entire fist like he truly wanted to tear out his throat. Keith gave a raw hiss at the sight. 

“No! You’re _ hurting _yourself!” Keith yelled, his voice ricocheting loudly in the cavern. He didn’t care if every merfreak on Asqua-varium III heard him. They’d have heard Lance by now anyway. The squirming boy either couldn’t hear his plea or he didn’t care. Keith needed to get Lance under control right now or they’d be interviewing for a new blue paladin. 

“And _ I _ get shit for being impulsive,” Keith spat into the darkness. 

The red paladin shot forward, scrabbling with a splash of black water. His arm snaked out with purpose to get a hold on one of Lance’s wrists. Lance dislodged Keith’s initial attempt with an echoing _ smack _, only clawing deeper. Keith flinched at the bright red on his fingertips. The same fingers that were usually so delicately poised on the trigger of his rifle. 

Keith was ready when he lunged for the second time. He snagged a slippery brown forearm in a grip he would usually only dare resort to when grappling with Shiro. He pinned it tightly to Lance’s flank and swiped out to catch the other before the blue paladin could do more damage. He pinned the boy’s clenching hands on either side of his head. 

Lance writhed to escape his grip. He released a stunted whimper, thrashing his neck in splashy jerks. With both his teammate’s arms locked tight, Keith heaved a deep inhale and dared to peer at Lance’s injuries. 

“You really did a number on your neck, stupid. This needs to be bandaged.” 

Lance whimpered a soft peep of a sound at Keith. The defeated plea was crackly and garbled by constricting throat muscles. Keith squeezed his eyes shut, unable to watch the boy thrashing in pain below him. Lance whimpered again, small and broken. And Keith’s heart physically _ hurt _. 

“You’re allowed to scream, Lance. And you’re allowed to cry. Just-” Keith locked his legs so that he caged Lance in on all sides. “You’re not allowed to give up, though, do you hear me?” 

The cavern whispered with the sound of settling water as the energy finally seemed to drain out of the blue paladin. Keith stilled over his opponent, panting hard. It had taken more strength than he’d thought to keep Lance restrained. His bangs were sweaty with the effort and his muscles shook even now. 

Short lockes of brunette hair floated slickly in shallow water. He peered down at the boy, taking in the stress lines in his face and the tension in his sharp jaw. The restless way his shark-like eyes darted back and forth. Keith squinted. The water seemed to be flowing errantly below him, beside Lance’s neck. It was subtle, the movement almost imperceptible due to the blackness of the lake. But it was there - a tiny push and pull. A mysterious ebb and flow in the stagnant water. That was...strange.

Keith inclined his head, leaning closer. It was hard to see anything unusual amid the assortment of self-inflicted scratches along Lance’s neck. At first, Keith’s eyes continually traced the line of the longest cut. He winced at how wide and fresh it was. 

After a few ticks, his attentive gaze zoned in on a set of two poignantly curved scratches. They were already so smooth that they looked as though they’d long since turned to scars. Weird. The other injuries, criss-crossing over and alongside this particular set, appeared ragged and were colored a deep, moist red. Keith pursed his lips at the obscurely thin lines. Both of the cuts gave a slight tremble. 

Keith blinked. _ Did those just move? _

He blinked again. They moved once more, in what could only be described as a flutter. Keith instinctively recognized the motion, his mouth forming a little 'o.'

“What the _ quiznack _ ?! Lance, do you-” Keith fumbled with the words. “Gills? Do you have _ gills _?!” 

Keith was unable to stop staring at the appendages. Lance had a matching set on the other side too. 

Keith was only a little shocked when the boy released a sound that wasn’t at all human, a mix of a hum and a vibration that Keith felt buzz in his skin rather than actually heard with his ears. He was beginning to put things together. Lance wasn’t infected with some alien disease or having an allergic reaction. He was _ turning into _one of those mercreatures. 

Keith swallowed a lump of sour panic. Lance’s body was definitely...restructuring. To put it delicately. But what about the _ Lance _ part of Lance _ ? _ He was going to be himself still, no matter how much his body changed, right? 

_ ‘There’s no way I’d leave you in a time like this.' _Keith flushed, turning over Lance’s words in his mind. 

Even if Lance wanted to pretend this whole experience never happened (considering they were officially living out a nightmare, Keith had a lot less trouble blaming him for this now) then that was fine. It would be fine as long as Lance could get through the change in one piece. Keith would protect this bumbling idiot even if he didn’t want to be protected. 

“Lance? Talk to me?” 

The blue paladin gave a minute shake of his head. Keith would never have seen it had he not been compensating for both of their physical awareness for god _ knows _ how many vargas now, attuned to Lance’s every move. The red pilot frowned. 

“_ Can _ you talk? Are you okay?” This time Lance said nothing, but there was a distinct flutter of his gills. 

Keith inhaled a nervous breath before warily releasing one wrist and carding his fingers into Lance’s water-spiked bangs, tracing down to the floating tufts at his nape. He let the chocolate strands sift through his fingers. How the fuck was this guy’s hair so soft, anyway? 

Keith cleared his throat and tugged his hair in an (embarrassing) attempt to replicate Lance’s earlier gesture of friendship. Maybe a little too hard, but it was an effort nonetheless. He noticed that Lance’s gills quivered again in a few fast pulsating rolls. 

He tilted his head, some combination of frustrated and confused, to find that his face was close to Lance’s. Like _close._ His heart stopped with a painful thud. The boy’s eyes were open and wide and some-fucking-how managing to stare directly into his own regardless of the surrounding darkness. Keith choked. Lance’s eyes were rimmed with thin, barely-there ocean blue, the wisp of irises framing oversized black pupils. Those dilated pupils were so large and wild that the red paladin had the momentary feeling of kneeling before a predator. A shiver started at the base of his neck and extended all the way to his fingertips. 

Lance reared back with a sudden, shocking intensity. Probably a last-ditch effort to escape. A fusion of a grunt and a scoff escaped Keith’s mouth as he was thrown off balance. The blue paladin had either been working out or that very Dracula-esque neck injury he was sporting had spiked some kind of adrenaline high. 

Keith yelled in surprise as he fell forward onto Lance, their heaving chests pressed flush together. At this distance, the coppery smell of fresh blood clouded his nose. A high feral trill hummed into his ear, inciting a layer of goosebumps. He sucked a swell of water painfully up his nose when Lance gripped down on his hand with inhuman force. He heard an inaudible splintering a tick before hot sparks of pain fractured across his knuckles. Keith gave a punched-out groan.

“Agh, Lance! _ Fuck _! Did you just break my hand?!” 

There was a strategic shift of weight as Lance looped a leg around his thigh and thrusted his hips into his opponent to try to flip them both. The squeak of material on solid armor gave away Lance’s plan. Not to be outdone, Keith threw his weight in the opposite direction to pin him, jabbing his knees into thighs and his hips into Lance’s stomach. 

“Today is not the day you beat me in hand-to-hand, Lance,” he snarled, ignoring the fierce throbbing in his hand. Even completely out of it on a crazed alien mental trip, Lance still managed a catty-sounding huff in response. Keith did not get paid enough for this.

“So you won’t talk to me?” Keith growled down at him. 

Lance hissed at him. Like actually hissed. 

“I’ll take that as no.” Keith shrugged, but that stung a little. Even if Lance wasn’t himself. 

Lance had already physically changed more than Keith thought. He was a dangerous combination of his cocky self and alien mermonster. But adding in how high on pain he was, suddenly Keith wasn’t sure if he could win this fight. 

The next move of Lance’s hips and legs was sinuous, snake-like. He bucked at Keith, the tendons and muscles in his thighs grating into his opponent’s groin. Keith gasped, but Lance’s brain was still working it seemed. It wasn’t about the force, it was about the tiny amount of space Lance managed to create between them. He used it to carve his way from underneath Keith. Amazed at his dexterity, Keith tumbled into a roll to chase him before he could slither into the water to escape. If he managed to get under the dark waves, how the hell would Keith find him again? That thought terrified him just as much as this terrifying transformation did. 

Keith looped his arms around the boy from behind, seconds before he fully disappeared and escaped under the water, and attempted to get him into a headlock. Lance squealed and thrashed, wildly enraged, and Keith felt the hair-raising trill of his gills fluttering along his forearms. 

A new noise, a tinny technical whirr from somewhere in the cave, was picked up by Keith's sensitive hearing. Keith twisted his head in alarm. “What-”

His helmet! It was beeping with an incoming call. A small red light blinked rhymically from behind the visor. _ Was the team finally here? Thank god! _

Keith flinched, realizing his mistake too late. During the split-second distraction, Lance had dislodged himself just enough to jam his shoulders backwards into Keith’s chest with breathtaking force. Keith grunted at the impact and felt the back of his skull _ CRACK _against the jagged rockwall. 

Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 🐟😈


	5. Scales on Skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The blue paladin is rocking some new oceanic features and the red paladin is sort of into it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic on AO3, and I want to thank you all because your comments are SO KIND AND FABULOUS AND SWEET! 
> 
> With that said, back to the angst ♡

Keith came to consciousness twice before fully waking.

The first time Lance was shrieking nearby, the sound guttural and inhuman as it bounced off the cave walls. The snapping of a bone somewhere in his body was followed by snarled sobs and gnashing teeth. Louder snapping sounds like branches breaking carried over the splashing; Keith winked in and out of consciousness before everything went silent. 

The second time the cave was hushed quiet. He still lingered at the edge of waking up, in that unknown medium where he couldn’t tell dreams from reality. Something wet touched his cheek. It wasn’t soft, but it was gentle and traced over the icy skin again and again. A heat settled at his back and wrapped around him like a blanket. The feather-light stroking was all Keith knew before he was lost to the dark again.

***

In the cloying darkness, Keith’s eyes ripped open and he lurched forward with a shout and a splash. 

“Lance!” 

He didn’t get far. He heaved, bile rising in his throat and vision cutting out completely at the sudden movement. _ Ugh. _If Keith didn’t have a concussion before, he sure had one now. Dammit, Lance. That numbskull better be okay because Keith was going to get even for that last hit. The red paladin tried to focus on things other than his overwhelming weblum-sized headache. His lips were chapped and he grimaced in disgust at the briny grind of caked salt between them.

Keith found he was in an obscure state of both hot and cold. He was numb from his elbows to his fingertips and the chill seeped into his toes through his boots. His midsection however, was broiling. There was a curious warmth swaddling his thighs and spiraling up his stomach to his chest, making his skin tacky with drying sweat and seawater. Keith grimaced. He felt like he was tangled in a puddle with a heating pad cranked up to max. Not to mention, the heat was not providing any aid for his swirling stomach. 

The red paladin opened his eyes again with painstaking lethargy, even though he wanted nothing more than to launch to his feet and see what had become of his teammate. However, if he did so he might actually retch. 

Much like the last time he had woken up in an underwater cave (Keith was going to be a goddamn cave expert by the end of this mission,) he had to wait for his Galra eyes to correct his sight. He blinked at the familiar prickling behind his eyes as his black pupils dilated and slowly yellowed over to meet his sclera. Grim shadows sharpened into rocks and the boundless black expanse dissipated to reveal the eerie little lagoon Keith was starting to think might not-so-secretly be the ninth circle of hell. 

A seeping sense of foreboding percolated in his stomach as he finally looked down at his half-numb limbs. A sinewy shadow encircled him. The thing looked like a tree root bent to fit around his body like a thick slinky. The longer Keith stared, the more familiar the shape became. He knew those pliant curves and fins and slithery scales too well. It was a tail. _ Fuck. _ A tail that was probably connected to a mermonster. _ Double fuck. _

How long had he been out? Was it minutes? Hours? Enough time for Lance to completely disappear? Or to suffer through his tortuous transformation _ alone _? A sour bubble of distress popped sickeningly at the back of his throat (this was unfortunately not a metaphor.)

The creature was settled behind him, tail gathered up in a coil beneath the red pilot like some distorted royal throne. He didn’t dare turn around to see its face yet (he had scarcely taken a single breath since he’d understood his predicament.) 

Every second that passed revealed intricate details of the beast. The tail itself had a slender, flexible curvature and it was embedded with stone-sized scales that appeared similar to the texture of shark skin, layered over one another unevenly. The appendage narrowed, thin and delicate before expanding into tapered fins, made for speed. Now that he was focused (as focused as one could be with a massive headache,) he could feel every minute, friction-inducing movement of scales below his flight suit. It was a bizarre, intimate sort of feeling being enveloped in the powerful muscles of its tail.

The merbeast heaved a giant sigh, scales rustling along the length of its body. It was weirdly scientific to experience at close range, like tectonic plates shifting or wet sand bunching and uncoiling far too gracefully. Keith lifted his lip and shivered at the unexpected sensation of sharklike skin brushing his ear and pulling at the collar of his flight suit like a cat’s tongue. 

Keith’s eyes darted wildly about, trying to glean any information he could. Were more beasts weren’t lurking in the water or beyond his peripherals? He’d have enough trouble fighting one of these creatures right now. Most importantly, was Lance still in the cave? There was no way he’d be able to fight off monsters in his state. _ And where in the ever-loving-quiznack is my bayard?! _His head pulsed in time with his racing thoughts. 

The red paladin tried to focus on slowing his breathing into a natural rhythm, although he was certain he’d already given away that he was conscious. Which meant he probably didn’t have much time before the merbeast sunk its fangs into him or squeezed him like an anaconda. With its tail wrapped around him so many times, he probably looked like some horrific version of a costume mummy on Halloween. What a fantastic time for Keith to develop a creative imagination. 

Swaddled in constricting warmth on all sides, he felt his heart rate spike and a new layer of sweat surface on the back of his neck and across his upper lip. His blurred vision only attributed to the nauseous twisting in his stomach. _ Too much, too hot. _He might casually vomit on this mermonster. Well, it wasn’t the worst plan (could that be considered a plan?) If that was what it took to free himself and find his wayward teammate, Keith was on board. 

He tried to hold his breath when the intimate rippling of muscles skimmed along the unprotected joints of his knees. The movement revealed bunches of spindly directional fins disguising dangerous-looking barbs in several tactical areas along the serpentine tail. Lovely. Keith made a mental note to stay away from those.

It was with delicate precision that those barbs flexed unnaturally out and away from Keith’s lavender skin, which peeked out through thin tears in the form-fitting black suit. The red paladin might have actually unpacked some very significant meaning there, if instead he hadn’t practically choked when the thick appendage nuzzled under his thighs and along the length of his legs to loop around his ankles, retracting both Keith’s dangling boots and fingers from the water. 

The alien had him nestled in its lap, touching him far too much and in far too many places. _ Can’t think like this- too much. _As it were, Keith’s strong suits had never included physical contact. Well. That wasn’t entirely accurate. Keith found physical contact to be meditative when it involved his sword or his fist.

All Keith’s senses narrowed to focus on the wet heat pulsing like an infection so close to his exposed skin. If he could at least get out of the water then the creature wouldn’t be able to follow him, right? He officially did not care; there was no way he could sit there a moment longer. 

Keith grit his teeth and twisted as hard as he could, (which probably wasn't all that hard when sudden movements made him feel like his forehead was clogged with cotton or some kind of liquid. It very well might be. Which was gross.) The creature let out a feral squeal and its tail loosened its hold all at once, like he’d pulled the right ribbon on a nicely wrapped present. 

The sleek beast reached to grip him across the chest from behind like a terrible hug. Acting on instinct and an exquisite newly developed sense of claustrophobia, Keith threw his head back hard. He immediately regretted his instinct. A tiny voice that sounded suspiciously like Shiro berated him for jumping without thinking of a plan. _ What’s fucking new? _

He attacked with so much force he could feel the mermonster’s gills buzzing as it hissed in fury, flush against his nape. It writhed and twirled like a serpent, and Keith gasped when its scaly arms locked tighter around him. _ Shit. _Skin tore along the pads of his fingers as he pawed at the hard scales on its tail. It was like trying to untangle a ferocious, fanged knot. He yelped when a serrated scale-tip sliced open a gash along the meat of his palm (fortunately not the broken one.) His cry echoed sharply around the cave. 

Seemingly in response, the creature stopped, allowing Keith to shove his elbow back into its sternum. It released a short hiss of pain. Still, the creature did not move. It stopped writhing. Stopped twisting. Stopped. 

Keith gaped, afraid that if he moved again it would trigger something. He stopped struggling completely, limbs hovering frozen in odd positions above the dark water. The barbs and fins along the luminous, bespeckled tail quivered with unspent adrenaline.

A small suspicion began to unfold as he lay there, shocked into stillness. Maybe it should have occurred to him sooner, but Keith was fractured and concussed, okay? (Not that that had ever stopped him before. But that’s beside the point.) 

Not once during the entire scuffle did the creature lash out at him. Struggle to contain him, maybe. But it did not attack him. He perched in the mermonster’s lap for an unknown amount of time, panting. The red paladin could admit to being a little nervous when the beast finally moved. He couldn’t stifle his gasp when the muscular tail climbed its way up his flank, pivoting this way and that as though it had a sentient mind of its own. It nuzzled up along his hip with breath-halting tenderness. Keith swallowed, his throat giving an audible dry click. 

The tail came to rest over his shoulder almost casually, flopping over his collar bone like a scarf. The red paladin froze, bracing for the sharp sting of poisonous barbs (that he was actually pretty sure weren’t going to come.) He probably wasn’t in the best state for making life-altering choices, but this was going a lot better than his barf on the mermonster plan.

The tip of the fin bopped him on the nose. Keith had zero time to react to that before it wrapped around a tuft of jet black hair. And then it gave a gentle tug. Quick, but persistent. And familiar. And no _ fucking _ way was this actually happening.

Before he could twist in place to prove his theory, the creature’s claws rose cautiously in front of Keith, obviously hesitant to fully release him. Except now Keith did not want to be released. Unless this was some kind of delusion he’d made up (Keith was actually a little terrified that it might be) then this was not a mermonster at all. 

“...Lance?” He hated the way his voice broke. A steadily growing ball of tangled nerves was glued to his ribs like sticky candy. 

The dark hands, adorned with sickle shaped claws as jagged as the rocks lining the cave wall, curled into a gesture as familiar to Keith as his one-room desert shack. There was no other way to describe the motion. Finger guns. 

Keith’s jaw dropped open and he felt his eye twitch in disbelief. Ironically, the playful act before him was also horrifically twisted. You know, due to the distended, gruesome claws. Yet, Keith couldn’t be happier to see them. He barked out a hysterical laugh and ignored the aching pull in his neck to spin and face the blue paladin. 

His partner seemed just as tangled in his own tail as Keith was; the red paladin grinned at the sight. 

“Now that’s just sad.” Keith's voice was a laugh wrapped in a whisper. MerLance scoffed at Keith from behind the curtain of his slick, frazzled bangs. He looked a mess. But so much better than he had when Keith had last seen him; Keith forcefully thought of anything but fragmented, grotesque snapping sounds and blood.

"You're here, and you're okay," Keith sighed in relief. "Wait, you _are _okay, right? You look, uh. Different? No, you look better! Fishier?" Because the universe wanted all of Keith's interactions to be awkward, his voice cracked on the words, worsening when he realized it was too late to stop the word vomit. Lance gawked at the red paladin. 

Then Lance's mouth curled at the corners and he bent at the waist, vibrating with silent laughter. It really wasn't funny. Nothing that had happened today was funny, but Keith didn't take it back because he was smiling too; smiling at the tanned boy who had already been strong enough for the two of them. Also maybe because the both of them were so exhausted they were straight up losing it.

Lance peered up at him, still grinning, and Keith saw the impending mischief in the slant of his crooked grin, in the crinkle beside his eyes. The boy shook his head a bit like a wet dog, spraying Keith across the face. “Hey!” 

MerLance didn’t look particularly sorry, and the worst part was Keith did _ not _ care. Not even a little bit. He felt the tension leaving his shoulders in little spasmodic jerks. To his shock, he also felt a sudden stinging prickle behind his eyes. He blinked rapidly. Definitely just residual sea salt. He would drown himself before he admitted it, but he wanted to push Lance’s bangs back and just _ look _at him. 

Well more accurately, now he wanted to look at the filtered blue glow resonating steadily from his partner’s eyes. A blue shimmer traveled along the moist cave wall with every slow blink. Lance’s eyes were still almond-round, but his pupils were triple the size and the narrow ring of his irises and sclera glowed a blue that seemed to buzz in the pervading darkness of the deep. _ Really fucking pretty. Uh. For a fish monster that is. Right. Yes. _

It was some ethereal shit, but Keith still entertained an absurd image of Lance fishing at the bottom of the ocean floor, glowing and luring unsuspecting prey like an angler fish. He held in a manic chuckle. So Lance was an attractive alien fish now, and Keith was so relieved to see his teammate that he might just pass out in the welcoming nest of scales below him. 

Wait. What?

_ Uh, let's not go there. _

“That's new.” Keith cleared his throat, an awful sound that hurt his head. "Your eyes, that is."

Lance’s brow furrowed, squinting at Keith incredulously for a tick. Then he gestured a little too aggressively at his tail, eyebrows jumping pointedly. And Keith knew exactly what he was saying, even without words. He could practically hear the ‘_Really, Keith? That’s the first thing you noticed?’ _

Keith would argue that there were a lot of things to notice. Like how intricately the two boys were melded together. He was less in awe and more...aware of the scorching tail looping around his thighs and along his waist, holding him upright and pressing him into Lance’s naked torso. It dawned on his exhausted brain that _ Lance _ had been beside him in this cave, protecting him for hours (?) and keeping him warm in the moist, freezing air. Every shiver Keith felt and every press of scales to skin- _ Oh wow. Oh no. Oh fuck. _

Realizing he’d been quiet too long, he opened his mouth to retaliate. Lance cocked his head, looking less bickersome and more concerned now. Mouth flapping somewhat ridiculously, he poked one finger into Lance’s chest to buy time. He wasn’t ready for the spike of pain.

_ WOW _ that hurt. He hissed, retracting his broken hand. Always more eager to talk with his fists than his words, Keith had broken his hand more than once in the past. Thus, the raw rhythmic pulsing across his knuckles was not new. However, it was uniquely bizarre to see the injury enveloping purple skin, agitated and bruised to the point that his hand looked like a swollen plum. 

Keith wondered if Lance would remember breaking his hand. He hoped he wouldn’t. He maneuvered it behind his back. Apparently, it was too late. Lance leaned to peer over his shoulder. He jumped when Keith spoke a bit too loud.

“Dude, stop! I’m fine.” 

The boy’s eyes narrowed to stubborn crescent slits. _Uh oh._ He nudged Keith off balance with a thump of his tail.

“Woah-Lance! Wait-“ With shocking strength he pulled Keith in, smushing the boy’s face into the dip between his neck and shoulder. Meanwhile, Keith did a poor job of ignoring the pleasant scent concentrated there. It had altered slightly, saltier between his usual scent of cinnamon and sunshine. 

He also noticed, with great relief, that the injuries along his neck were scabbed over. He could smell only faint traces of blood, even at this distance. Keith hadn't noticed any of the large gashes lingering on Lance's legs-er, tail either. Did these mercreatures have some kinds of supernatural healing qualities? That would actually be fantastic, given the circumstances. Keith didn't want to make assumptions and push their luck anymore than they already had. 

The Blue paladin gently unfurled Keith's hand, holding him in place when he tried to scooch away. Keith grumbled as he watched from the corner of his eye. The blue paladin’s mouth fell into a thin-lipped line - it was very un-Lancelike. Keith frowned.

“Lance - it’s nothing,” he sighed. Lance snorted and proceeded to squeeze with the lightest pressure. Keith jolted hard and cried out. He swore under his breath, lips brushing Lance’s gills. 

“What was that for-“ But Lance’s face wasn’t victorious. He chewed his lip, eyes round and watery and still on Keith’s swollen skin. Like hell he was going to tell Lance about the head injury now. 

“Hey,” the red pilot whispered, the words slightly slurred. “Does this make up for me roughing you up, then?”

Keith remembered the winded sound Lance had made when he’d thrown his elbow back with the intent to crack bone. In his defense, he thought the life was going to be squeezed out of him.

Lance snorted quietly, gills fluttering. The apology went unspoken, but that was fine. Keith looked away from the uncharacteristically earnest look on his partner’s face, still distractedly turning Keith’s hand over in his own, when something soft brushed his nose. 

Keith stared in wonder. Where Lance’s ears would be were fins, long and delicate and spikey. By the light from those piercing eyes, Keith could barely pick out cobalt veins weaving through the translucent earfins. There were scales of varying hues dotting his cheeks and his upturned nose, like freckles on his brown skin. They gathered more thickly at the perimeters of his face and along his jawline, melding to meet those deepset gills that never seemed to stop quivering. 

Those finned ears continuously curled in on themselves until they were coils of blue framing his face. They looked like little flowers blooming and withering over and over again. _Cute. _Unfortunately, the action also looked almost convulsive, a clear giveaway that he was upset. He fumbled for words, unsure how to choose them when they weren’t bickering. _Oh, wait. __Duh. _

Keith raised a brow, trying to exude confidence. “Lucky shot at the end there by the way. Before you knocked me out, I mean.” Lance stilled. His shoulders were still a tense line, the protracted length of a dorsal fin along his back standing at attention. 

He probed further, “It was pure luck. I was obviously distracted." Technically, that was the truth anyway. "You'll have to do better next time." Keith crossed his arms and leaned in. He may have also flexed just a _teeny tiny_ bit. "This time, no distractions. No cheating, Fish boy." 

Lance stared at Keith’s hand for a few ticks before his ears finally unfurled, stationary and looking elfen in their elongated shape. The corner of Lance’s mouth tipped up. Keith had a brief moment to regret mentioning his loss before Lance raised a brow very slowly. He mouthed something that looked like ‘_sore loser?’ _

_ Well then_. That might have worked _too _ well.

“We’ll see about that.” The playful jest disappeared from Keith’s tone - and _yeah. T__his_ was more like it. “Spar with me when we get back and I’ll show you! Won’t even take me two dobashes-“ Keith paused. Something was still wrong. “Wait. Not that I don’t enjoy the peace, but what’s with the silent treatment?” 

Lance looked like he wanted to argue with Keith so badly that he might pop a blue, effervescent blood vessel. He pointed at his neck and then his mouth purposefully with a single claw, misjudging the distance and jabbing himself in the chin. Keith smirked, but quickly sobered as the meaning sunk in. 

“You can’t talk?” Fuck. Was his body permanently damaged already? The thought made Keith’s throat tighten. He hoped it wasn’t too late. They just needed to get Lance to a healing pod. The sooner the better. 

“Okay. That’s okay. You’re gonna-be fine.” Lance looked less worried about his voice and more worried about Keith as he tripped over his words, eyelids fluttering as he fought a dizzy spell.

“We need to find the team. They’re probably already at the extraction site waiting for us.” Keith was sure he would never hear the end of it from the black paladin. He sighed and stood. Apparently too quickly. Black dots crowded his vision and he immediately dropped to one knee. 

“Ugh.” He massaged the back of his head with his thumbs and groaned at the pain pulsing in mini electric zings from the point of impact. Man, it was going to suck putting the helmet back on. He wondered if it would even fit over the new bump on his head. He grimaced at the inky pool. 

Meanwhile, he felt Lance’s hands fluttering around his head in a panic; he felt the movements in the tiny, delicate hairs along his furry ears. The red paladin side-eyed his teammate’s wide, worried eyes. 

“I’m fine. We need to get moving.” Keith almost laughed at the childish pout on Lance’s face. He dropped his flailing hands, but he didn’t look happy about it.

“How about you? Are you feeling good enough to travel?,” Keith spoke as he tried to visually scan Lance for injuries. Lance gave him a quick, firm nod. Then he disappeared below the water. 

Keith blinked, surprised when he surfaced barely two seconds later at the other side of the lake, collecting his helmet and wayward paladin gear. He appeared in front of Keith again, looking far too proud of himself and far too much like a golden retriever. Keith realized his mouth was hanging open and promptly shut it.

“Thanks. You’re shockingly good with...” He gestured at Lance’s tail. “...that. Already. Somehow.” Words are hard. In any case, the blue paladin would get the picture. 

Lance preened, shrugging too noncommittally to be genuine. Keith chuckled. At least one of them was feeling better. He slipped on his helmet with a grimace. The red light was still blinking and Keith tapped the com line, hoping to hear familiar voices while he reapplied his gear. The message relayed static and Keith resisted face palming (it might be easier at this point to punch himself in the face and go back to being unconscious.) 

He had enough oxygen for a couple hours. That should be enough to at least get to the surface. With a sigh, Keith stepped into the water thigh-deep. 

“Let’s go, Fish Boy.” Before Lance could silently berate him for the nickname, he dove into the black water. 

***

Lance’s blue eyes illuminated the underwater cavern. They were spectacularly handy. While Galran vision worked well in darkness, it was not equipped for aquatic spelunking. 

Keith watched his partner, trying to tone down his shock at Lance’s adaptability to swimming with a _ tail _. He struggled to keep up with the boy, his lithe scaled waist and protruding fins appearing ever more alien when silhouetted by the incandescent light of his eyes. With a flourish that might have simply been impatience, Lance looped back around to grip his wrist and pull Keith along as he darted through the tunnel. Keith was amazed he could move so swiftly while dragging another person. Lance whipped around a tight turn, undulating like a snake, and the red paladin had to brace the cold wall as they passed in order to prevent a particularly nasty hip check. He whacked Lance’s tail, glaring. The boy sheepishly ducked his head in apology, eyes squinting into suspiciously thin wisps.

_ Yeah right. Sorry, my butt. _Luckily, the cave corners were oddly smooth, worn by water and time. The two paused when they came to a branch in the maze-like tunnel, coils of rocks unfurling into new passageways like corkscrews. The blue paladin looked between both, fins ticking back and forth like a big cat’s tail against Keith’s shins. His eyes tracked the movement, the fins glinting silver along the paper-fine tips where they brushed red armor- He jumped a little when Lance rapped on the red helmet for Keith’s attention (like he didn’t already have it) and jerked his chin at the narrow parallel entrances. Understanding, Keith gave him a nod and watched him disappear around the nearest bend to scout further ahead. 

It would be faster to identify the right path without Keith weighing him down like baggage. That was an annoying thought. If Keith made it back before he became a salty frozen popsicle, he would invest time in asking Coran if the training room could simulate aquatic environments.

The darkness folded in on all sides as Keith felt his way along the cave wall, feeling acutely vulnerable now that Lance had taken the light with him. Anything could be lurking merely feet in front of him. He’d never had an issue with small, dark places before. In fact, he usually found them inherently comforting. But then again, those places weren’t wet labyrinths disguising prowling demonic mermaids. 

What put him most on edge, fraying his nerves enough to inspire gooseflesh across his skin, was the aching silence. It was so _ quiet _at the bottom of this wretched ocean. 

Which is presumably why the sudden _ CRUNCH _resounded so loudly. 

Keith jolted so hard his neck cracked, floating tensely above the jagged rocks lining the seafloor. He was poised to fight with clenched fists. Not that he could see, smell, or move as freely as he’d like in the water. He grit his teeth. 

When nothing attacked him and the craggy ceiling did not collapse on him, Keith’s yellow eyes were drawn to the corner of his visor, where the screen was blurred and the glass had fractured. If he squinted, he could actually see the crack expanding in real time. 

Oh_ quiznack! _

He’d forgotten that the helmet had broken hours ago (or days ago for all he knew.) He also hadn’t realized just _ how _ badly it had broken. Keith inhaled a deep, shaky breath. The good news: no mermonsters were coming to eat him this very second. The bad news: Keith was terrible at holding his breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Favorite chapter up next!


	6. Ascent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The red paladin has a problem and the blue paladin has a solution

Keith wouldn't panic. He would keep swimming. This tunnel had to lead to open water, another cave, or the surface at some point. Right? 

Plus, Lance wasn’t far off. Maybe he’d found a way out already.  _ Patience yields focus. _ Keith internally chanted the phrase as he kicked his legs with more vigor, maybe a bit too hard considering he couldn’t see more than three feet in front of him. 

Keith used the rocky tunnel interior to grip and propel himself a bit faster between the amethyst stalagmites that curled like the tips of ice cream cones. His hand consistently landed in something that felt spongy and he prayed it was coral or cave moss or something...not repulsive. Although that would be the least of his problems if he drowned. 

_ Quiznack.  _

Okay. So maybe he was panicking a little. Keith’s jaw popped as he ground his teeth. 

_ Swim now. Panic later.  _

He’d made it a fair distance before his helmet creaked again, a telltale glass crunch. Keith didn’t even flinch. He just kept going, blood pumping hard and renewing the pulsating ache in the back of his skull and his injured hand. However, he couldn’t stop himself from eyeing the thread-thin crack that was beginning to splinter like lightning against the pressure of the salty water. 

The crack gave, collapsing inward.

Glass splintered into his face and a shard sliced the bridge of his nose as the water rushed in. The icy torrent was immediately overwhelming and salty _ .  _ Keith sputtered as water sloshed against his neck, already rising up past his chin.  _ Shit. Shit. Shit. _

Keith’s back bumped up against the rocky arc of the tunnel as he flailed, unseeing in the dark water. He didn’t know whether he was right-side-up or upside down with the lack of sensory input. With every off-kilter beat his heart felt enlarged, like it was too close to the base of his throat. It was hard to breathe and there wasn’t even any water in his mouth yet- 

_ Such an idiot _ , he cursed himself. The numeric display at the corner of his visorscreen flickered ominously and endlessly, Altean symbols flashing in bold letters. Keith didn’t have to read Altean to know the paladin suit was warning him about the breach, and thus, the impending shutdown- _ oh shit.  _ The suit would also pick up his physical health readings. The team would know  when if he died. The red paladin tilted his head back to gulp in the remaining air inside the helmet. He could barely swallow any past the hot knot in his throat. 

Even though it was a familiar sight at this point, Keith still jumped when the blue glow suddenly zipped across his vision like warbled electricity. _Lance._ The mer hovered before him, fins fanned and quivering. His wide, worried eyes grew the longer he looked at Keith’s predicament. The red paladin stared back, his body trembling in nervous convulsions. The fact that his mer-comrade didn’t immediately drag him off led Keith to believe he hadn’t found a way out either. _Well that’s not a good sign._

Keith’s broken helmet jolted, disorienting him further as the metal pressed into his numb cheek. He choked on a mouthful of salt-saturated water, surprised. Lance’s fingers pressed against the shredded glass of the visor like he could staunch the flow and the water tinted pink as Lance’s blood filtered in with it. He watched the blue paladin’s head whip desperately back and forth, eyes scanning rapidly, like a life-saving idea would come slithering out from between the rocks. 

Keith tasted the coppery tang of Lance’s blood in the water and flinched. He yanked away. There was no way Lance could fix the crack in his helmet. It was massive. Keith knew it and Lance knew it. And yet, Lance looked so utterly spurned at the action. Keith bit his cheek, guilty. 

There was a wrinkle across Lance’s nose, deepened by his upturned brows and the smear of a frown on his lips.  _ You’re killin’ me, Lance.  _ If nothing else, Keith didn’t want Lance to look like  _ that.  _

He held his partner at arm's length and stared at him,  _ really  _ stared at him, golden eyes darting between Lance’s panicked blue ones. He had no idea what he’d say even if he could speak. His view of the boy blurred a bit as the water filled the helmet in its entirety, and Keith entertained a tiny, selfish thought. Lance, worried and scared as he was, wasn’t the worst thing he could see at the end. Maybe it was the oxygen deprivation, but Lance’s blue, shivering aura looked almost celestial, the only thing tethering Keith in the dark. It soothed the fear gnawing at his every nerve like gentle sunshine massaging tired muscles. 

Ugh, that was kind of embarrassing for his final thoughts. Did Keith mention he needed air  _ so  _ badly? His lungs might literally be plastered to his ribs by now. He couldn’t hold his breath much longer. 

The edges of Keith’s vision rippled. His throat clenched wickedly.  _ Is this it? _ He shoved blindly at his comrade, trying to turn away and hide himself from view.  _ Don’t watch. Don’t watch- _ Keith wanted to scream the words. He had to reel back to hold both hands over his mouth and nose with bone crushing force to hold back a sob. 

Webbed claws slithered out to yank off the red helmet in one smooth movement. Keith supposed it didn’t matter much now anyway, all things considered, but he still growled mutely, confused. Bubbles containing his very last bits of oxygen escaped between his bared fangs. His round, batlike ears quivered in the current, stirred up by the tiny cyclone that was Lance as he hastily attempted to pull a struggling Keith into his arms. More water was going to get into Keith’s brain before his lungs at this rate. 

All at once, a fierce cerulean luminescence filled his vision entirely and slippery nails fingered his cheekbones. There was a warm pressure at his mouth, rigid and urgent. Keith instinctively jerked back, to find a hand already twisted into his hair and anchoring him in place; anchoring his lips to Lance’s lips. Salt stung the corners of his eyes as they widened comically. He recognized a dull pang of pain in his skull at the tight grip, but the constricting of his lungs had taken priority. Fuck, his chest  _ hurt _ like a knife splitting him open slow and hard and constant. 

Lance was staring hard at him and he nudged Keith meaningfully. The boy’s mouth parted against his own, tongue searching at the seam of his lips insistently. Keith’s oxygen-deprived brain sparked little fireworks of warmth and a knife-sharp edge of hysterical thrill. He opened his mouth to Lance.

He felt an instantaneous burst of air. Keith choked and in his surprise almost broke the blue paladin’s hold. In response, the silky webbing between Lance’s fingers stretched taut over his jaw and tightened so hard he felt the lumbered ticking of his own pulse there, sickeningly slow. 

_ Oh. _ Lance was feeding him air. 

Keith’s chest panged painfully in a slow rolling thump like it didn’t know what to do with Lance’s breath. Time was still for a tick, dark and motionless as they stared at each other at the bottom of an alien ocean. 

Keith’s shoulders jolted and his throat seized and all of sudden he needed  _ more _ . The red pilot keened at the marvelous push of  _ air  _ and swallowed down puff after puff greedily. Lance’s gills fluttered wildly, pumping oxygen hard and fast. Keith’s back arched to push his chest into Lance’s as though he could get more air directly from his partner’s lungs. Did Lance still  _ have _ lungs?  _ Don’t know, don’t care.  _

Keith was more lucid now, but he still needed a lot more air in order to hold his breath for any length of time. He couldn’t help but growl mutely when Lance pulled away. The sound must have reached him because Lance gave him a slow, smug grin that tugged on the edge of his mouth until his eyes crinkled with mirth. The smile revealed new sets of incisors that curved inward, hooklike. It was a grin equipped for a predator.

And the worst part? It made Keith’s gut shiver in excitement. 

He tilted his head instinctively, giving Lance barely three ticks to catch his breath, and their mouths were meticulously sealed again to prevent even a bubble of air from escaping. Keith hissed at a sharp tug on his lower lip. He prodded at the blood bubbling there with his tongue with a puzzled flicker of his own furry ears. His tongue pressed up against a sharp, serrated tip.  _ Ah, Lance’s tooth - _ well suddenly Keith wasn’t the only member of the family who was in danger of impaling himself everytime he brushed his teeth. 

The spindly dorsal fins along Lance’s spine flared at the action, barbs quivering. Keith tried to convey an apology with his eyes. His own fangs were sensitive after a transformation so it would make sense that these would be too; especially after the first transformation ever. Maybe he could help Lance deal with his new physical changes until the team figured out a way to turn him back to normal. After all, it had only taken him something like eighteen years to figure out he was Galra.  _ Some expert he was. _ He snorted despite himself, almost sucking in ocean water. 

He grunted a muffled gasp of surprise when Lance curled his tongue around Keith’s fangs, probing and tracing them in return. Keith’s eyes blew wide. Woa. Where did  _ that  _ come from? And was Lance’s tongue... _ longer _ ?

His lips ran slickly over Keith’s, almost indecently soft. A grey-blue scale at the corner of his mouth pressed into Keith’s chin, the texture smooth like a stone but magma hot. Lance’s tongue dipped further to brush boldly against his with a blistering heat and the red paladin felt a ruddy burn spread across his cheeks. His claws curled, digging into broad tanned shoulders. 

Keith shivered at the friction of scales on water-tussled Galran fur, and  _ god  _ he wanted (but couldn’t have) Lance’s stupid, tangy, disarming smell in his nose and on the back of his tongue prickling like a spicy fruit. He wanted more of Lance. Which made this shockingly peculiar scenario worse. And so much better. 

Keith was so fucked. 

A lost cause, the red paladin licked into his mouth in return and rolled his tongue against Lance’s like he was working a tight knot. There were almost-imperceptible barbs dotting Lance’s tongue, smooth in one direction and abrasive in the other. Keith found that some angles actually drew tiny bubbles of blood, flaring at the wet friction like a cat’s tongue. He lapped up the droplets. Lance went strangely still in his arms. 

Keith couldn’t resist nipping that bruised lower lip, dragging it deliberately between his fangs with a teasing pressure. He should have known he was in trouble when Lance’s scales coiled in a shiver that looked eerily like ripples on placid water.

Lance fisted a handful of Keith’s tangled raven hair and used it to guide the kiss with vengeance; two sets of alien biology aligned with a click of fangs and the glide turned velvety. It was with a serpentine fluidity that Lance’s tongue  _ wrapped around _ his. It gave one  _ slow _ stroke. 

_ Jesus.  _ Keith arched into Lance and his throat vibrated with a wordless, pleased hum. It was not a conscious choice when the red paladin’s thighs began a slow climb to wrap around Lance’s hips. 

A tiny alarm blared in the back of the dazed boy’s mind. Keith’s tightening chest creaked with need and he winced, grasping at his throat. Oh yeah. Breathing. He needed to do that.

Lance shared air with his teammate like an afterthought. Even that breath was searing hot. A tiny sound bubbled up from the back of Keith’s throat, almost a squeak. Lance’s mouth crooked into a smile and water crept in at the edges between their lips, so icy it was painful. The drastic temperature change had Keith flinching. Because the glacial water was a shock after...well. That. 

Keith was thankful for it. It was a reminder that his lungs were going to pop. And also, that he was  _ making out _ with his admittedly attractive, yet potentially traumatized teammate, at the bottom of a large body of water in the middle of a mission while Team Voltron awaited them on the surface.  _ Oops. _

As much as they went through the motions of fighting, he and Lance worked well together recently, like push and pull. Or maybe more like kick and shove. Keith huffed. There was a simple ease between them now, born of brutal honesty and playful jibes. Keith couldn’t deny that he liked it. He liked a lot of things about Lance. And due to recent events, the list might have also...expanded.

Keith knew what he was thinking, but what about what Lance was thinking? And worse, what if he wasn’t doing any thinking at all? Which wouldn’t be far fetched given that he was a flirtatious idiot. But he happened to be an idiot that recently experienced severe bodily trauma.  _ Oh god. _ He could be fucked up in the head. 

He felt the ghost of a frigid spike of nerves prodding him in the gut. Did he just take advantage of Lance?  _ Well, fuck. _ Keith couldn’t really ask him right now could he? 

Lance uttered a low trill that was somehow audible underwater, a feral sound Keith recognized from the cave. It was different this time, wordlessly cheeky and pleasant. He nuzzled into Keith’s cheek. The red pilot’s face burned hot, this time with a small unfurling of shame in his chest. Because Keith was maybe the worst friend ever.  _ I’m sorry. _

He yanked his face sharply away. Lance went rigid, his grip on Keith’s shoulders a little too tight. He leaned back enough for his eyes to search all over Keith’s face. He cringed at whatever he saw there. Keith tried not to feel hurt. 

They both noticed they weren’t alone at the same time. Drifting beside them, inches away from their own faces, a set of hazy yellow orbs eyed them hungrily. Time froze; Keith’s stomach tensed and dropped. In actuality, he’d barely had the time to blink before Lance shattered the hazy illusion of stillness.

The blue paladin gave Keith a hard shove just as a gnarled claw sliced through the water between them. It cut through the space where their bodies had been intertwined only seconds before. The sudden jerk stirred heavy thuds of pain in Keith’s skull, but that wasn’t as terrible as the moment when Lance’s face blurred as the distance between the two boys widened. 

Lance looked at his partner over his shoulder, eyes both worried and calculating. He bit his lip as he watched the red pilot wince and hold his head with both hands, but suddenly Keith’s eyes widened and he pointed past Lance exaggeratedly. Keith knew Lance could read his exasperation just as well as if he’d yelled at him. Translation:  _ Don’t worry about me, Stupid! Incoming 12 o’ clock! _

The blue paladin rounded and advanced on the mer, throwing himself between Keith and a sudden incoming attack from the beast. It released an inhuman hiss as Lance whipped out with his tail in an uncoordinated attempt to distract its attention. Panicked, Keith reached out toward Lance, trying and failing to grab him before he disappeared into the dark. Again. This time with a vicious mermonster. Not to mention, Lance was the only thing keeping him from drowning.  _ Godammit Lance!  _

Keith rubbed his eyes brutally, trying to make them see. Occasional flashes of blue or sickly gold sliced through the abyss of the tunnel as Lance and the mermonster tumbled and launched unseen attacks among the rocks. The red pilot knew he wouldn’t be much good with his stunted vision underwater. Plus, his bayard was about as useful as a toothpick if he couldn’t pull enough speed into a swing. 

But  _ quiznack, _ he didn’t have a lot of options here. A series of dull thuds, claws scrabbling against rocks, had Keith setting his teeth. He couldn’t see, but he knew Lance was fighting for the both of them. Not even three feet from him, a gleam of yellowed fangs bared against blue scales was visible for a split second.  _ NO- _

That deep inherent shadow inside of Keith bubbled up like a hot cauldron. He felt more than heard the muted scuffling and vibrations as Lance struggled with the creature. The red pilot had no idea what he could do to help, but there was no way he was going to float there and do nothing. Keith activated his bayard with a mute snarl. The flash lit up the interior of the rocky tunnel, gnarled and winding like the overgrown roots of some ancient tree. In that split second, Keith saw two things. 

One: The mermonster jolting to a stop to coil into a ball and cover its eyes against the harsh light. It stung even Keith’s eyes after being in the dark for so long. He could only imagine how much it would hurt if you lived down here full time. 

And Two: Something glinted white when the light touched it. At first, Keith thought it might be the eyes of another monster, waiting for a chance to strike from between the jagged rocks. But as the flash diminished, he saw there was only one small glint, unmoving and partially embedded in the sandy seafloor. 

In the diminished light, he coiled against the cave wall. Keith used the rocks to spring toward the faltering merbeast, brandishing his bayard. It squinted, sensing his approach. It wasn’t quick enough to avoid the sword completely as Keith split a shallow gash along its flank. It recovered far too quickly and Keith felt its powerful tail whip him across the back, slamming him into the sand and rocks below.  _ Ow.  _

Even though he was practically blind, Keith saw stars. He knelt, wincing against the seafloor, and hoping that another attack wasn’t coming straight away because he was too disoriented to defend.

A hiss, close to his ear, made Keith jump. He tensed. Wiry muscles caged him in from above and an arm swiftly looped down to nestle him into a sitting position. His bayard was forced into his grip; Keith hadn’t even realized he’d dropped it. He turned to look at Lance, but the weight disappeared suddenly, leaving the red paladin along and vulnerable and with a terrible sense of foreboding. Lance must still be fighting.

The boy fumbled blindly to get his bearings, jamming his fingers on rocky debris. He paused when his fingers stuttered over something curious in the sand. The object was hard and pale with a ring of ridges. A shell. A glowing shell.  _ Oh. _

Maybe this mission wouldn’t be a complete bust after all. Except for, you know, the blue paladin’s new fishy aesthetic. When Keith’s fingers closed around the shell, it glowed in gentle pulses. 

One of the two beings behind him shrieked violently. The pained trill vibrated in the rocks beneath his knees. Keith tensed. He recognized the timber of the voice. His heart heaved a single painful thud and his fingers clenched, fear settling over him like a blanket.  _ Shitfuck-  _ how was he going to help Lance if he couldn’t fucking  _ see  _ him!? His fists clenched, nails digging shallow lavender streaks across his palms.

Keith twisted in the sand and spun with his bayard, frustration and panic rising rapidly.  _ Where are you, Where are you-  _ He feared lashing out and accidentally striking Lance, but what option did he have now if his partner was injured? 

The blue paladin would not be left to defend himself without his partner twice - not if fighting beside Lance was literally the last thing he did.  _ Fucking worth it.  _ An unnameable need to protect seared across his mind like wildfire, and while Keith could heartily relate, he knew they were ultimately not his emotions alone that pulsed like liquid flame. 

Like a response to an unsought summon, the shell pulsed once more and the entire tunnel was swathed in a glowing white light. Both Lance and mermonster shielded their eyes. The beast coiled, looking altogether like an angry bedspring, before darting away with unsettling deftness to fold itself into a small cove among the foliage and rocks. Keith stared, suspended above the sea floor and holding his breath with ridiculous ballooned cheeks. 

The red paladin turned his gaze to his hand in wonder, where the shell continued to emanate a powerful light from between his clenched fingers. This shell  _ had  _ to be of the variety they were looking for (although Keith had given zero shits about the mission the moment he found his teammate face-down in a lake.) Was the shell reacting to his quintessence? He still felt traces of the otherworldly need from before, the desire to protect not only Lance, but himself as well. His mouth formed a tiny ‘o.’ 

_ ...Red? _ A soft pur reverberated at the back of his mind. He didn’t know which of them the shell had reacted to, but he wasn’t about to question it now. Sounds like a problem for future Keith. He sent a silent thank you to Red.  _ Good Kitty. _

Keith paddled to Lance, the sword in his hand making the motion awkward. He tapped him on the shoulder and Lance blinked at him from between his claws warily. Lance’s gaze was immediately drawn to the two seething eyes still glinting at them from the seafloor, awaiting a safe moment to attack. Keith shivered. They needed to go _now _before this shell ran out of batteries. 

_ Come on Fish Boy! Get with the program!  _ He swatted his partner upside the head for his undivided attention, which had no real impact in the water. He settled for an impatient glare. Lance glared back at him, the gesture not very effective since he couldn’t handle the light either. He watched with blue slits as Keith pointed towards the passageway with wild arm motions. 

Finally, taloned fingers gripped Keith’s forearm and Lance began to pull him along, rather crookedly (likely due to Keith blinding him for the second time in under five minutes. He could be sorry later.) Keith held the shell out as behind him as he could manage to keep the creature at bay as they swam. He couldn’t see the beast, but he knew it was there.

It took a dobash or two for them to really get moving. However, Lance was now cutting through the water at an amazing speed. His tail worked in rhythmic pumps and Keith felt the water whipping past his face and tugging on his hair. His lungs were starting to ache again, but he didn’t dare stop Lance yet. He wanted as much distance between them and the monster as possible. 

They continued at a rapid pace, Lance weaving expertly between boulders and hurtling around sharp turns. The red paladin was impressed that this time around he never managed to snag Keith on any jagged coral or rocks. Each time they hit a dead end and had to turn back, Keith’s stomach knotted, praying the monster wouldn’t be waiting to ambush them. They also had to pause once when Keith couldn’t hold his breath any longer. Lance gave him air, but it was forceful, hurried, and laced with a shaky awkwardness that had been absent the first time around. 

Keith questioned his sanity when a hole, glowing a welcoming blue, appeared at the end of the passage. Lance squeezed his arm and Keith knew he could see it too. Lance sped up and as they neared it, Keith could see a filtered gold meshing with the ocean’s deep blue, glittering translucently.  _ The sun-  _ God, the red paladin couldn’t wait to see the sun. 

Lance burst through the opening in the rocks with Keith in tow, releasing his arm to perform an excited looping backflip. Keith looked up, hoping beyond hope.  _ Yes,  _ there above them was the  _ surface  _ with waves and air and sun. He couldn’t keep a grin off his face. Keith guessed with Lance’s new speed he could cover the distance in something like Thirty good strokes. And beyond those final strokes, the sky waited for them. It was blue on this planet, just like Earth. He turned to show Lance too, but instead did a double-take. 

Seeing MerLance underwater in a murky cave and seeing MerLance in the light of an open ocean were two different experiences. Keith blinked once, slowly. 

There were swirling turquoise and navy tones marbled throughout his tail and into his expansive, sharklike tailfin. The tiny scales pebbling the toned muscles along Lance’s abdomen and hips bled into sharp versatile fins along his spine. The colors changed with every delicate alteration in the filtered light drifting down from the ocean’s surface. The blues suited Lance. However, the beauty didn’t distract from the serpentine gyration of his arched back and dynamic tail. Although the fin at the bottom was large, Keith knew firsthand that it was abnormally dexterous and built for speed. 

When Lance twisted to look at Keith, the movement was lithe and crisp. He was the embodiment of the ocean, stunning in both its beauty and its wild turbulence. Keith swallowed. 

And then he promptly threw up internally because he’d just waxed poetic about  _ Lance.  _

Lance who once went through an entire diplomatic meeting not realizing he had breakfast goo on his face. Lance who seemed to be appreciating the natural light as well. Those small, delicate earfins fluttered happily and fanned out to frame Lance’s wide, white smile. His fangs dipped poutily into his bottom lip in his zeal, and that might have been the cutest shit Keith had ever fucking seen. His heart skipped, doing something weird against his ribs. 

The fins at the base of Lance’s back and weaving down the length of his tail seemed to move with the water, attuned to tiny changes in the current and direction. They flared with sudden intensity, the motion animalistic. Unease prickled under Keith’s skin. He’d only had eyes for the surface, given that it felt like years since he’d seen it (and maybe he’d had eyes for one other unmentionable thing.) Now he finally took a tick to scour the landscape around him.

The area looked similar to the reef where they’d been skirmishing before. Below them was the rocky seafloor that Keith had become accustomed to. Unfortunately, there were also at least ten mermonsters below them, lingering on or near the haunted looking grey reef. They were long and spiney, like gnarled threads weaving and crawling between the rocks. Keith’s eyes stopped scanning when he landed on one that was already looking directly at him. Its gaze shifted to Lance. As it took him in, the foul creature opened its mouth in the way that snakes unhinge their jaws, strings of saliva stretching between its teeth. And it smiled. 

Oh, Keith didn’t like that look one  _ fucking  _ bit. He lifted his lip in return and it was no accident that he drifted to hover in front of Lance, blocking the creature’s view. 

Lance hissed and pointed over Keith’s shoulder where the mermonster that had been tailing them finally loped out of the mouth of the tunnel. It twisted its head back and forth like a rabid dog, then focused on Keith with a slitty squint, eyes still struggling from the effects of the quintessence shell.  _ Looks like someone’s holding a grudge. _

Both paladins knew the shell’s effects weren’t going to work out here where it was already bright. Keith tucked it away under his flight suit and brandished his sword. He was very glad he did so when the creature body-checked Lance hard, continuing past him to spring at Keith, both claws poised to tear. Keith’s sword gouged into the webbed joint between those scraggly nails.  _ Nasty. _ It paid no mind, trying to dislodge itself while the other claw struck frighteningly close to Keith’s exposed throat. Keith screamed soundlessly when the beast snagged and tore open his injured hand. Blood clouded the water. 

The red paladin already knew to be wary of their tails, but he didn’t stand much of a chance as it began to coil around his thigh. He could feel the pressure compacting on the red armor, but it was no use peeling the creature off with his mangled hand. The creature seemed to be appreciating his pain. It squeezed harder. A broken femur was going to make for some rough swimming...Keith thrashed, waiting for the sound of snapping bones. 

A blaze of blue swooped over his shoulder. He felt the burning heat of Lance’s scaley, webbed fingers as they shielded his throat. Meanwhile, he simultaneously lashed out with the other arm to scrape at their opponent. A red ribbon split open across the creature’s face, all the way from its eye down to its jaw in an ugly gash. 

Lance bent down at his partner’s waist. Keith’s eyes widened as Lance’s jaw extended a bit too far to be human and bit down into the fleshy tail wrapped around him, a truly venomous snarl vibrating through all three of them. The mermonster screamed and jerked away, body lurching grotesquely against the coral rockface. Keith subsciously splayed his fingers over his gear, feeling the new cracks decorating his armor. He gripped Lance’s shoulder and gave it a quick squeeze -  _ thanks.  _ He received a distracted thumbs up.

Now that their presence had been announced with fanfare, Keith looked over his shoulder at the pack of mermonsters slithering and writhing in the deep as they took notice of the paladins. He was not surprised that their next challenger looked very familiar, still leering pointedly at Lance. Nor when Lance flinched upon seeing this particular beast. It had to be the one who’d bitten him; the cause of all of this. Keith seethed at its provocative nature. Its gills were pulsing and its tail flicking back and forth, something playfully coy about the ‘come-hither’ motion. 

Lance looked anywhere but at the creature. A tiny fire started in Keith’s stomach and spread all the way to his fingertips. He wouldn’t be surprised if the water around him legitimately started boiling. 

Keith wanted to blame his weird Galra instinct for what happened next, but he knew outright that what he was about to do was territorial. He reached to thumb along Lance’s nape, padding and massaging lightly over the scabbed bite mark. He pressed until Lance shivered, mouth parting in shock. Then he pinched the flight suit until the material covered the fang mark from view. Keith felt guilty for the dark, hair-raising tingle that ran over his skin when Lance side-eyed him with a noticeable blush. It fanned like spilled paint beneath blue-grey scales, coalescing to make new colors. That was...pleasing to the eye. Very pleasing. It was just another problem for future Keith, but it was worth it for the way the mermonster snarled at them, enraged. Keith promptly gave the beast two middle fingers.  _ You can fuck right off.  _

When this one attacked, it zig-zagged through the water like a broken pendulum. Keith wasn’t sure which direction it would strike from, and he knew that another mermonster was creeping up from behind. But Lance was there - the boy’s shoulders lining up to bump against his. A wayward dorsal fin jabbed snuggly between Keith’s shoulder blades. He smirked. Lance had his back, so Keith put all his focus onto the approaching monster. 

Fangs dribbling spit and fins spiking out like a lion fish, the beast finally made its move. It was smarter than the last one, seeming to recognize Keith was expecting an attack straight on. The merbeast’s lips curled smugly and it instead came from underneath. Keith looped his leg around Lance’s tail to yank him out of its path too, using the inertia from the spin to stomp into the creature’s stomach. It latched onto him at impact and Keith thanked Voltron for the durability of the armor when it scraped and bit at his legs with the ferocity of a small tornado. 

He felt Lance’s elbow jam into his shoulder from behind, and he knew the other beast must have lunged as well. Keith couldn’t spare a second to look. His own opponent’s glowing yellow eyes glittered eagerly below him. They moved calculatingly from his legs to his unarmored torso.  _ Uh oh. _

One claw flung up sharply and even though Keith knew it was coming, he simply couldn’t dodge in time due to the water dampening his reflexes. It struck him on the hip. He knew the thing took malicious pleasure in flexing its claws deep into his flight suit because it watched his face the entire time. It was like broken glass twisting inside him. He cried out only to have the water engulf his screams. 

But Keith saw opportunity there. With its claw lodged in his side, Keith strung his legs over the mer’s body and straddled it, scaled arms pinned to its sides by his thighs. It clenched its claws in his hip, and Keith grimaced but squeezed tighter, unforgiving. He threw his sword down two-handed with as much force as he could muster. It punctured the monster where human ribs would be and released a terrible scream of pain. The vile thing darted away, growling and spitting at him over its shoulder like an offended alley cat. The red paladin was tempted to laugh at the ludicrous sight. He gripped his slashed hip, where new strokes of red drifted in a constant stream into the water around him. He was losing too much blood. 

Lance appeared at his side, a long gash split open crosswise on his pretty tail, which was a shame. But he was otherwise unharmed (you know, outside of living a horror story straight from Grimm’s FairyTales.) His hands fluttered over Keith’s bloodied hip with a slack expression before he looked up into his face. His mouth was quivering and Keith felt an actual twinge in his heart when his lips twisted down into an uneven frown. He was doing too much of that lately. He wanted to tell Lance he was fine. It was nothing the healing pod wouldn’t take care of. He could keep fighting. In fact, neither of them really had a choice. 

Lance was best when he was smiling. Keith pressed the pad of his forefinger against that tiny slate scale on Lance’s cheek, pushing upwards until the frown was gone. For just a tick, he admired the lavender hue of his skin against the bronze tans and dynamic blues. 

He had a vague feeling that he wouldn’t do something like this if there were more blood going to his brain. Or oxygen. That feeling intensified when Lance’s eyebrows went up and his gaze flickered back and forth between Keith’s eyes. 

His hand rose to cover Keith’s fumbling fingers, holding him there. The red paladin probably would have floated there staring in awe until he’d run out of air if Lance hadn’t made a move. 

He tore his eyes from Keith’s to look over his shoulder at the pack of mermonsters, approaching from the depths like starving hounds. Then at Keith again. Lance scrutinized him for a long moment. Suddenly his comrade grabbed him by both shoulders. Water went up the red paladin’s nose and he yelped as Lance drug him to meet his mouth. Hard. Their fangs and noses smashed together.

“Mmph-” Keith griped, bewildered and more than a little irate, but also appreciating the air filling his lungs. He did his best to glare at Lance anyway. Because ouch. The blue paladin just winked at him and gave him an impish grin. Keith frowned. Something about the expression was a little off. It didn’t reach his eyes. 

Lance spun Keith, delicately avoiding his plethora of pulsing injuries, and catapulted him with a great thrust with his tail. Shocked again by the sinewy bend of the great muscle, the boy flailed as he was propelled through the water. The icy ocean whipped by so fast it stung his cheeks. When Keith stilled he was shockingly close to the surface. Well, that was one way to do it. He floundered about, looking for his partner.

But he was alone. Lance was still below him. He had already turned back to the approaching pack of monsters. 

_ Oh.  _

Did Lance just play bait for him to escape? An indignant heat flushed his cheeks.  _ For fuck’s sake. _ Lance must not know Keith at all if he thought he was just going to leave him after all this. Keith growled, belligerent and defiant. 

Keith could see his partner’s fangs glinting. That damn fish boy fanned his fins out around him, lengthening to visually double his size. The interwoven oceanic hues in his body looked erratic and angry as they flashed quickly from one color to the next. The creatures only had eyes for the peacock-like dominant display as they forgot about Keith completely. One of them lunged in a perfect arc. 

_ No!  _ What would happen if Lance was bitten again? Or what if they would do something worse than bite him this time? Keith prepared to dive, his brain chanting a litany of insults.  _ Overconfident, selfish, pigheaded, idiotic- _

Something splashed through the water above his head. He twisted in time to see a metallic hand grip a clump of material at the scruff of his neck. Then he was ripped out of the ocean, dangling over the crashing waves. He dripped salt and blood. 

In all honesty, breaking the surface was  _ sublimely euphoric _ . Keith breathed so deeply that he felt dizzy all over again. God, he was never going to take air for granted ever again. 

“Keith!” Shiro loomed over him, dragging the red paladin onto the rocky jetty. Keith attempted to sit up, eyeing the crashing waves beside him with purpose, but was immediately distracted as Shiro pinned him with a powerful hug. His face pressed into Keith’s soaked purple ears. “You scared me.” 

His hug was too tight and Keith ached, but he honed in on the relieved scent emanating from Shiro, a scent he thought he’d never get to smell again. The smell quickly took on a piney, spicy rebuking quality that Keith recognized all too well. 

“I hope you know we’re going to have a chat about you cutting the coms later,” he scolded. “It’s like you want me to go gray.”

“You’re already going gray-” He heard Shiro gasp, playfully affronted. The red paladin exhaled explosively into the man’s shoulder (it probably would have been a laugh if not for the day he’d had) and raised an arm to grip him in return, but the movement tugged on his flank and his injury screamed at the stretch. Shiro jolted back on his haunches when Keith hissed. He scanned until he settled on the pool of blood growing under Keith. 

“You’re bleeding. What happened?” He could see Shiro remembering himself, his stance becoming more guarded. His hand gripped the black bayard, like he was subconsciously checking it was there just in case. Meanwhile, the red paladin was still too busy gasping, too weak to fight the gentle, yet stern hand guiding him to lay back against the jumbled rocks. 

“A lot.” Even his voice sounded waterlogged. “A lot happened,” he wheezed. Shiro facepalmed, frustration radiating from his tense shoulders. 

“Report: Where are you injured?” He continued in a quieter tone, like he couldn’t help it. “Keith. Are you okay?”

“Okay enough,” Keith replied, tone clipped.

“That’s Keith for ‘not okay.’ You need a healing pod.” Keith could smell the bitter bite of worry overpowering his scent. “That doesn’t look good. This mission is officially finished. Where’s Lan-” 

“No!” Everything fucking hurt, but the boy turned his head to stare at the shoreline, cheek mashed against the rock. With a start, Keith noticed a growing red cloud rising in the water. Fuck, was that blood? He very much hoped that was mermonster blood- well not  _ his  _ mermonster. Not that Lance was his. Damn it all.

_ Please don’t be Lance.  _

Keith had promised himself he would protect Lance in that cave. And now he was up here and Lance was down there  _ still _ protecting him. He bit his battered lip. 

“Lance needs help! He’s down there-” He pointed. Like Shiro wouldn’t know which ocean he was talking about. Needing no further information, Shiro nodded and stood with purpose. His hand went to his helmet and Keith listened as he shared their coordinates with the team over the com link. He could hear the line crackling with a rush of concerned voices. 

“I’m going to get Black and we’re going to pick up Lance. Stay here and don’t move. I mean it.” The sound of boots slapping against stone faded as he headed to the black lion, parked farther away on a wider portion of the peninsula. 

He yelled again from there, “Seriously, Keith! You better stay put!” 

“Alright, already! Just get on with it!” Keith huffed a painful little laugh as Shiro disappeared into the lion.

With no one to tell him otherwise, Keith sat up, undeterred by the black creeping into the corners of his vision. He stared hard at the waves, hoping to see a familiar mop of chocolate hair break the waterline. But the waves simply continued to lap at the jetty in a mundane push and pull. Keith thought he might scream. He weirdly missed the desert in that moment, with its wide expanse of open-ness and nothing but sand and canyons to block his view. 

He was considering just throwing himself back into the forsaken body of water when a familiar gargantuan surge of red met the ocean with a colossal splash. Keith found himself spluttering in a puddle the size of a small lake. The red lion’s yellow eyes gleamed as she took off underwater and her tail submerged last with a soft  _ plip. _ He choked on a ball of nerves that he hadn’t realized had snuck its way up his throat.

“Red!” Keith cried. The two paladins had only taken Blue on what was supposed to be a simple mission, due to this planet’s environment being 90% water. So why was Red here? Was someone piloting her? 

He felt a fiery warmth, whorling at the edges of his mind. And with it came a soothing purr, deep and low and calming. Keith drug himself to the edge and peered over the side. He stared hard at the surface. His broken hand stung with a fierce zing as he gripped the lip of the rock along the shoreline. The boy hissed, but did not move. He felt a lulling chastisement lapping up alongside the fire inside his head, almost like Red was hushing him. He didn’t know how Red had found them. But he didn’t care.  _ Red, please. Save him.  _

In the sky above him, he saw a flash of yellow and green as the other paladins descended on his location as well. Keith’s muscles were clenched so hard in worried anticipation that he jumped practically a foot off the ground when Red broke the surface again at such a high speed that the water was barely disturbed. Keith struggled to get to his feet. He doubled over at the sudden sparking flame igniting pain in his side, extending down to his thigh. He scowled at the innocent looking dent in his armor; he’d forgotten about that. He doubted it would look so innocent underneath. Jesus, everything hurt.

With a disgruntled huff, he waited in an impatient crumpled heap for Red to land. When she paused to hover near the black lion, Keith furrowed his brows. Then she took off at a blistering speed up into the atmosphere. 

“Red, what- Wait!” Keith yelled into the sky. Red did not turn around for him. Keith blinked, actually feeling a bit hurt at being brushed off.  _ Who’s lion are you anyway?!  _ He bristled at the disembodied chuckling at the back of his mind.

The green and yellow lions broke away to follow red. Keith watched them somewhat furiously, panting between gritted teeth. Had Red managed to grab Lance? What was his condition? He jolted in surprise when Shiro appeared beside him. He hadn’t even heard him approach. The black paladin spoke softly, like he was talking to a frightened animal. 

“Hey kiddo. Change of plans. Red was able to pick up Lance. But she wants to get him back to the Castle right away.” Keith bit his lip and tried to stand again. He would have been embarrassed to look like a newborn deer if he could think straight. 

Shiro ducked down and shook his head fondly at Keith’s impatient attitude. He tugged Keith’s arm over his shoulder. Keith stood with great effort, straining against the black paladin. He stumbled as Shiro guided him over the slippery rocks. The black lion opened her mouth for the men to enter and Shiro basically drug him up the ramp. He sounded a bit in awe as he asked, “How did you do that? Did you tell Red to save Lance?” 

“I’m-” Keith didn’t think so. He didn’t remember reaching out to Red, but thinking was hard right now. His injuries still throbbed with pain, but his head didn’t hurt so bad anymore. He was just really tired. If Lance was safe, all he wanted to do was sleep for a year in a warm, dry place. His head lolled against his leader’s shoulder as he responded, “I don’t know.”

“Keith.” Shiro patted his cheek. “I need you to stay awake. I think you might have a concussion. You can sleep all you want in the pod, okay?” 

Keith nodded. That made sense. You weren’t supposed to sleep when you had a concussion. Or fight sea monsters. Or kiss your teammates. Keith groaned. 

“The two of you had us scared after that first call. Hunk stress-baked about a hundred cookies.” The metal control panel was cool on his neck as Shiro set him up against it for the ride home. “We’ve got a lot of questions. But they can wait.” Keith chuckled. He must really look shitty if Shiro was letting him off the hook. 

“Join the club.” Keith pursed his lips. “Any news on Lance?” 

Shiro smirked down at him from the pilot seat. Keith looked pointedly away, crossing his arms and flinching when the movement bumped up against his injured hand. He had a feeling his assigned seat was located beside Shiro so that he could babysit him. And also so they could have a ‘talk.’ Ugh. 

“Awfully worried about him I see.” Keith glared. Shiro would be worried too if he’d only seen what Keith had these past hours. But for now, it was probably better he didn’t know. “Red hasn’t reached the castle yet. Pidge and Hunk are tailing her.” Shiro gave him a meaningful once-over, lingering long on his battered armor and bloodied wounds. Keith squirmed a bit under his gaze, feeling like he was about to get detention at the Garrison. 

“Red is going to get him home, Keith. He’s going to be okay.” Keith knew that, but hearing it out loud helped (although he was sure Red was righteously offended somewhere.)

The black lion hummed to life as Shiro turned on the thrusters and guided her into the air. Keith sucked in a breath and revelled in the feeling before letting it out slowly. Had he mentioned how much he loved air? The black lion’s cockpit dulled to bathe them in the nebulous darkness Keith was accustomed to in his own lion. 

“You too, Keith. I know you’ve got a reputation to uphold, but you’re the only brother I’ve got so I would appreciate it if you’d take it easy with the reckless stuff, yeah?” Keith smiled to himself. They’d really made it. Not to mention, Keith was still very purple and very furry and Shiro had still called him his brother. He nodded up at Shiro, a thick syrupy ball of emotion rising at the back of his throat at his leader’s words. He had to brace himself to keep from slipping down the wall as tension he didn’t even know he was still holding leaked out of him. Along with blood and ocean water. Lovely.

“Uh, I don’t know if anyone mentioned this yet. But we should probably have Allura and Coran get a tank ready.”

Confused at the topic change, Shiro lifted a puzzled brow. It disappeared beneath the shock of white hair laying against his forehead. “Like a fish tank?” 

“Yeah. Just trust me on this.”

Keith thought it better to save the details of the mission for the medical wing, as the whole experience sounded like an unbelievable fever dream even to him. He stifled a hysterical hiccup of a laugh, shivering at the painful prickles it caused. Shiro pursed his lips, watching him out of the corner of his eye. He probably thought he was being sneaky. Keith humphed. 

They sat in silence for the rest of the ride. Keith closed his eyes, indulging in the surprisingly calming presence of the black lion and enjoying the ability to constantly fill his lungs with air. He sighed contentedly. 

“Hey, cadet! No sleeping!”

“Oh my god, Shiro! I’m not sleeping!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's that you say? Did I plot an entire fic just so I could write an underwater Klance kiss? 
> 
> Why yes. Yes I did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you - Hope you enjoyed!


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